Sesshomaru Ante Iam
by ALiC.P
Summary: Sesshomaru Before Now. What kind of boy was he before we knew him? This is a story of the early years of life, from his relationships with family and friends to his experiences with the good, the bad, the tragic, and love; with his warmth and coldness and of course, some cuteness and humor. A review would be nice. Just try it out :)
1. Puppy

**Ante Iam**= "Before Now" (in Latin)

• _Italicized= thoughts _• ^^ within these=flashback ^^ • Otō-sama= very respectful term for "father"

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Sesshōmaru Ante Iam- Chapter 1~Puppy

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Inu no Taishō (Great Dog General) and Sesshōmaru's Mother are expecting a child. They believe that it will be another 20-25 days until the child is due. Unfortunately, Taishō had to take care of some General-business and had to leave. Sesshōmaru's Mom figures, that since it will be another month until the child is born, that it would be alright to visit her parents who live in Ezo-chi (today called Hokkaido). She leaves and it takes less than a day for her to travel there in her true, demon form without taking a break.

Five days pass and then – labor – the child is due!

All the attendants rush to her aid; push! push! Oh, I can see the head! Push! . . . . . crying . . . . .

The grandparents go to their daughter's bedside to see their new grandchild, a boy.

Grandma, "What a shame that his father wasn't here for the birth."

Sesshōmaru's Mom holds her son in her arms. His eyes are closed and he squirms a little.

Grandpa, "Then to make up for his absence, have him name the boy." Sesshōmaru's Mom nods.

Grandpa, "But in the meantime we need to address him as something… how about Utari, that can be his Ezo (Ainu) name. Just have it be second to whatever his father names him."

Grandma, "Utari… the Ainu word for 'Comrade'? Hm," she turns to her daughter, "Well, how about it?"

"Yes. That will do nicely."

She stays and rests for six days before she returns to Honshu. She does so in her demon form with Utari inside a sack hanging from her mouth. It takes two days for her to arrive due to feeding, changing, sleeping, etc. Before she arrives, she thinks to herself- _His eyes will open soon. It takes 7-12 days for an inu-yōkai (dog demon) child to open them._

~~Meanwhile, at the estate that's in the sky, which Sesshōmau will visit in 100s of years for info on Tenseiga~~

Taishō, not wearing any of his armor, is impatiently pacing outside the estate with Myōga the flea on his shoulder attempting to reassure him.

"Master, I'm sure milady's fine. Look, I know your worried about the well-being of your child, but -"

Taishō picks up on his mate's presence and looks up. She reverts to humanoid form, lands in front of him, with a squirming bundle in her arms.

He goes over to her, grabs her shoulders, and delivers a loving kiss to his mate. The puppy whines causing Taishō to look down. He smiles with such warmth.

"It's a boy. Hold him."

Taishō takes the squirming bundle into his arms and sees a small head topped by silver hair.

On Ezochi the snow was beginning to fall but it was still autumn at the estate so the trees were with red, orange, and yellow foliage.

"You can name him."

Taishō continues to look at his little boy when he notices that things are becoming darker even though it's the afternoon. His mate and he squint up to the sky and Myōga states that it's a solar eclipse.

Taishō again looks down at his puppy when two memories cross his mind

^^ "I would like the older boy to have the kanji for 'kill' in his name and… for it to be three kanji long too." ^^

_Yes… that's what you wanted…_

^^ Taishō was a small child when he saw his first solar eclipse.

"Otō-sama! Wh-what's going on with the sun?"

"Oh, it's being swallowed up by the moon."

"Really? Why?"

"Pfft, I dunno _why_, but what I do know is that life will end if the sun's never spit back out."

"What?"

"Tch. Hey, child, did you know that 'maru' is an idiom for the 'circle of life'?"

"Hm? No."

"Well, say bye-bye to it."

He ran over to his father and embraced him tightly, "I, I love you Daddy! I'm gonna miss you and everyone else!"

"Yeah, yeah, I love you too, but, my child, it's not the end of the world… I think…"

"You '**think'**?"

He embraced his son, "I'm here. There, there. Look, it's over."

He looked up and the sun was back to normal.

"Hmph, the absolute destruction of the circle of life failed again, child."^^

Taishō looks at his son, then the sky; it's lighting up. He notices that the puppy is trying to open his eyes, "Look. He's opening his eyes."

The puppy closes them. "Come on, puppy, open them."

He tries again, blinking multiple times as he does so, until he opens them fully. The eclipse ends showering his father's silver hair in light making it shine and revealing his warm loving expression, "Hello there… Ses-shō-ma-ru."

Myōga, "That's what you're going to name him master? It's rather… severe."

"Yes. Ses-shō-ma-ru," he has his left hand hover over Sesshōmaru who grabs his father's pointing finger with his little hand. He giggles as he stares at his father.

_My little boy… I already love him so much. Hmph, guess father was right that the only real 'love at first sight' that exists is when you hold your child for the first time… and that other thing: 'when a baby grabs a hold of his father's finger that very first time, it has already trapped him for eternity.' I see now why he said those things..._

As he holds his little boy the wind blows a red leaf toward Sesshōmaru's little body landing on him. He lets go of his father's finger and stares at the strange new thing-y. He tries to push it away with his itty-bitty hands and during his attempts pushes it up above him. His father catches it, "Oh, is this for me?"

"Nh…"

He chuckles, "Sesshōmaru, thank you!"

Sesshōmaru makes a baby noise and cuddles into his father; he yawns, closes his eyes and proceeds to fall asleep. Taishō cradles him.

The very first person who Sesshōmaru Utari ever saw with his shiny gold eyes was his beloved father.

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The first two kanji in Sesshōmaru's name [殺生]break down to 'kill/murder' and 'life' – Sesshō translates as "killer" "destruction of life" "a cruelty" "a brutality"  
Maru [丸] is a common suffix to boys' names (think about all the anime characters' names that end in 'maru') but it can also translate to 'circle' or 'perfect' or as mentioned can be an idiom for the 'circle of life.'  
Altogether it can translate to "Killer of life/the circle of life,"  
"Perfect destruction of life/the circle of life,"  
"Perfect killer of life/the circle of life,"  
"Perfect killer," or my personal favorite and the one that dear Inuyasha creator Rumiko Takahashi said was the translation of his name: "Killing Perfection"

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_To be continued..._

Ch. 2- Milestones


	2. Milestones

• _Italicized= thoughts _• *within asterisks= sound effects*

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• **WARNING**: The following chapter is very kawaii/cute. You have been warned.  
***not all chapters will be like this, this is just Sesshy's milestones. The content will change as Sesshōmaru himself grows up.

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Sesshōmaru Ante Iam- Chapter 2~Milestones

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~~Three weeks later~~

Taishō is in a room with Sesshōmaru whose lying in an itty-bitty futon asleep. He gazes at him, with peaceful content. The child squirms and Taishō carefully places his hand over his head gently stroking his hair; he stops squirming. Taishō, his face, as though he's in absolute peace. He then, very carefully, leans his face closer to his son's, and tries to very, _very_ gently nuzzle him – Sesshōmaru opens his eyes and Taishō stares at him, eye to eye.

"Aaa…" Sessōmaru goes, making the sound with an open, O-shaped mouth as he stares on curiously at his father.

Taishō, somewhat apprehensive because he disturbed his puppy's sleep, sits up and waits for him to cry.

He waits, and waits… and waits….

He looks at Sesshōmaru who's blinking hard a lot, "Sesshōmaru…?"

Sesshōmaru squirms some, as if trying to scooch up on his small pillow to get a better view of his father. When he feels he's accomplished this, or he found it futile and gave up, he stares at his father with big, shining, gold eyes….

…. and giggles, a baby smile on his lips.

Taishō stares rather expressionless, and after a moment of silence, "Aaaw! That. Was. **So, soo adorable!**" His eyes sparkle in joy and love; he clasps his hands together, trying to contain himself of his puppy's adorableness.  
***(If one's read _Sesshomaru and AhUn_ by, well, me, then this is where his calling him 'adorable' began)

Sesshōmaru stares at this attempting-to-self-contain-jubilant display with silence for awhile. Then Taishō looks up at him, and leans close, "Do that again. Come on, my sweet, dear, _precious_, _**adorable**_ puppy."

Sesshōmaru looks at him confused, "Come on, puppy, do it again for daddy. Come on, I know you can, you can do it. Do it for dad-dy- " He pauses, 'daddy'… yes, that, that's him isn't it? Yes, he's, he's a daddy… a daddy! At last!

He snaps out of it as he hears Sesshōmaru's giggle. Taishō softly laughs with him.

~~Three months later~~

Sesshōmaru's in his mother's arms, she's sitting and feeding him.

"Good boy, eat up so you can grow strong and tall like your father." Who by the way, is leaning on the doorway with arms crossed looking at his mate and child.

A few moments pass and she speaks up, "Can you quit staring?"

"Eh, um… why?"

"Because, it's making me uncomfortable…"

"I see."

She glares at him, "Quit it. Why, why **do **you keep staring anyway?"

"Uh…" he looks away blushing.

"That's… rather perverted…"

He leaves.

~~A week later~~

Taishō, his mate, Tōtōsai, Myōga, and Sesshōmaru are in the same room. Taishō holds Sesshōmaru and everyone else is watching.

Taishō, holding him by the sides, carefully lifts Sesshōmaru up to a little above his head, "Up," then, "Down. Up," and the pup, now capable of cooing, coos and giggles happily as his father plays with him.

Sesshōmaru's Mother, mostly to herself, says, "He's… really _enjoying _'this' – being a father."

Myōga on her shoulder, "Yes. The master, he's been waiting a very long time for this part of his life."

"Hm?"

"I believe Master has wished to be called 'Daddy' by his own pup, since he was young. He is rather of an older age to have barely sired his first child, you mi'lady are not, but- "

"If that's so, then why did he not sire a child sooner, I mean he could have picked- "

"That is indeed true. Many a woman would have been more than willing to be the mother of his child, being Inu no Taishō or not, he is a looker, strong, compassionate, charming, he could have pointed at a woman and there would've been a great possibility that she would have accepted him."

"Then why didn't he? Why did he wait so long?"

"He… wanted to have that child with a woman he dearly loved – have a _family_ of his own."

She says no more and looks on at her mate and child.

Tōtōsai has come to his side, "So that's him, huh? Your Pup?"

Sesshōmaru looks at Tōtōsai, "Ooo…"

"Yes. This is Sesshōmaru. Do you want to hold him?"

"Uh! Well, um…. No, no, I, I, I'm fine. I, you don't- "

Taishō laughs a bit, "Alright Tōtōsai, you don't have to."

"Aaa…." *giggle*

Taishō looks at Sesshōmaru. _He's __**soooo damn adorable!**_

~~Two days later~~

Taishō calls for his mate over and over, "Come quick! Right now! Sesshōmaru-!"

"What is it?" believing something bad happened to her child, she arrives hastily, "Wha-?"

Taishō is holding Sesshōmaru so his mom just stares confused.

"Okay, watch," he sets Sesshōmaru down on his tummy.

"Why did you call -?"

"Sh. Just watch," he then crouches down near Sesshōmaru's level and encourages him lovingly, "Come on, Puppy, do it again. Show mommy your new trick."

Sesshōmaru peers up at him, "Uuuu… aie!" Sesshōmaru then begins to kick his legs making little gruffy grunts while he does, then - then - he rolls over onto his back! And giggles.

"See? He can roll over by himself now!"

~~A month later~~

Taishō walks past a door where his mate sits in. She calls him to come back and enter, which he does, "What is it?"

She has Sesshōmaru with her, "Watch," she sits Sesshōmaru down before her knees and lets go of him, and he just _sits _there, on his own.

Taishō's eyes widen and Sesshōmaru begins to turn his head toward him but loses his balance and falls into his mother's lap.

She looks at him with a smile, "He can sit on his own now, even if for a little while."

~~Another month~~

Taishō is with his six-month-old son and Sesshōmaru is on his back.

Taishō claps his hands together, smiling dazzlingly, "Come on! Sit up for daddy, puppy."

Sesshōmaru babbles, "Ba-ba-ba-da-da-a," and reaches toward his father successfully sitting up.

Taishō catches his little hands, "Yay, you did it."

Sesshōmaru laughs.

"You want bouncy?"

Taishō, still holding his hands, helps him stand, then Sesshōmaru begins to bounce and giggles.

"Bouncy, bouncy, bouncy."

He laughs in glee, but then he plops onto his toosh, "Uh-oh… you fell," Taishō says with a smile. _He __**is soo adooorable!**_

He then sets Sesshōmaru on his back who simply stares back cutely, "Ba!"

Sesshōmaru flips over onto his tummy and appears to be attempting to… swim? Crawl?

"Come on, Sesshōmaru, you can do it! I believe in you!"

His mate walks in, "What are you doing?"

Taishō looks at her…. *sweatdrop*

~~Three months later~~

"Oh Tōtōsai, Sesshōmaru can stand on his own now!"

Tōtōsai, Taishō, and Myōga are sitting at a table.

"Well, that's… great…?..."

"Why do you say it with such uncertainty? This is an important milestone in my puppy's life! Of course it's great!"

"My, Master, you really are… uh…" Tōtōsai glances at Myōga, "I haven't seen him so fired up in ages."

Myōga answers, "Um, exactly for how long can he stand on his own?"

"Just for a bit, but he can even bend his knees now – it's just the most adorable thing in the world!"

They both stare at him not sure what to say.

"Oh! And he even understands a few words now."

Myōga, "Is that so?"

"The boy can't even talk-"

"Quiet, Tōtōsai, just indulge Master, okay?"

"Fine."

"Well, he seems to understand 'no' and 'bye' – ah! And he makes more complex sounds now! He'll be walking, and talking and calling me 'daddy' in no time!"

The two old demons only look on at there master.

~~A month later~~

He's crawling!

"We'll, here he comes," says Sesshōmaru's mother.

"Yup," says Taishō who is by her side. They both watch Sesshōmaru crawling toward them, "Ba-da-te"

He reaches them, then stands up putting his little hands up wanting to be picked up.

_So, so, so adorable!_

He picks him up, "Good boy! You did it!"

*Giggle*

~~Two months later~~

It's Sesshōmaru's first birthday.

Taishō is hunched over holding Sesshōmaru's hand as they walk together.

"Okay, almost there."

They arrive at a door and Taishō opens it; inside is the family.

Sesshōmaru lets out a surprised yet excited yelp.

"Come on, say 'hello' puppy."

Sesshōmaru looks up at him, then looks at his awaiting audience, "Hi."

Taishō lets go of Sesshōmaru and he takes a few steps before plopping on his toosh, but he laughs. He's dressed very aristocratically today – it is his first birthday after all.

His father walks over to him, and Sesshōmaru says, "Daddy." Taishō pauses taking in Sesshōmaru's word – Daddy! Daddy!

~~Winter~~

Taishō looks outside at the snow-covered earth, then feels something grab his leg from behind, "Daddy!"

He looks down and behind him to meet his pup's waiting stare, "Hello Puppy, is something wrong?"

His mate calls his name, she doesn't sound too pleased. Sesshōmaru, upon hearing her voice, runs to the other side of his father's leg and hides, "Uh-ooh."

"Eh… what's wrong?"

"He's teething," she says as she presents to him chewed up chopsticks and a torn up little pillow with spaced out teeth marks.

"I see," he looks down at the curled up Sesshōmaru who says, "No."

He smiles, "No?" then picks him up, "Go 'aah' Puppy,"

Sesshōmaru just looks at him.

"Like this," he opens his mouth wide saying 'aah.' "Okay, now you."

*stare*

"Go 'aah' Sesshōmaru."

"Aah?"

"Yes, good boy," his mate stands by his side as they both look into his mouth. Yup, teeth – about three, one a canine.

"Hmm, this is going to be a problem," she looks at Taishō, "What should we do?"

*sigh* "I… don't really know – we'll see – I'll come up with something."

"No," Sesshōmaru says pouting at them.

~~Early Spring~~

"Sesshōmaru, stop! Let go of that!"

Sesshōmaru's mother tries to pull off her son who's biting the wooden railing.

"Let go!"

"Gnn!"

"Let go of that, Puppy."

They both look up, it's his father.

"I think I have a solution."

"Really?" she asks out of breath, "What is it?"

"This," he presents a round light green, vegetable-looking? thing in his hand.

"W-what is that?"

"A piece of sugar cane."

"How is that going to help?"

"It has tough fibers making it difficult to chew, and it's sweet."

"Alright, but you have to get him off that first."

He looks. Sesshōmaru hangs from the wooden railing with only his teeth. Taishō pinches Sesshōmaru's nose shut, waits, then Sesshōmaru gasps thus opening his mouth and letting go of the railing; Taishō catches him.

He cradles him, but Sesshōmaru squirms from the teething pain, "Here you go, Sesshōmaru," he puts the little piece of sugar cane in his mouth who stops squirming.

*suck suck* "Mmmhh!"

_He looks sooo __**adorable!**_

Sesshōmaru half closes his eyes as he sucks on the little piece of sugar cane as though it's a pacifier.

"There! Problem solved."

She stares, "You really are… amazing."

~~Late Spring~~

Sesshōmaru is one year and seven months. One day, one of Taishō's subordinates came pleading that he assist them and Taishō, being the kind man that he was, agreed. It's the day of his departure, but Sesshōmaru has a lot to say.

Sesshōmaru runs, but his mother gets on her knees to restrain him. Sesshōmaru sobs, "Daddy! No! No, no, no go! Pwees Chichi! *gasps* *sniffle* Stop! No go! No Daddy! Nngh, Daddy! **Daaaddyyy-yy-y….!**" he lets out a cry of anguish; a river of tears flooding his reddened face.

Normally he's a quiet little boy who never wails or sobs, only crying for when he's dirty, hungry, hurt and so on, but even then he never cries like _this_.

He frantically struggles from his mother's grasp, desperately trying to reach his father.

Taishō is standing in the courtyard dressed in full armor with Sō'unga on his back (Tessaiga & Tenseiga don't exist yet). He's trying not to look at him; he clenches his fists and bites down on his lip. He looks over his shoulder to see Sesshōmaru break free and run towards him, arms outstretched, "Daddy!"

He grabs his leg, burying himself in it, *sniff sniff* "Daddy…"

Taishō looks down at him and as he's about to pick him up Myōga interrupts, "No Master! If you pick him up now he'll never stop crying!"

Taishō picks him up anyway bringing him up to his collar and then pats Sesshōmaru's back, "There, there, Puppy. It'll be alright," he gives him a little kiss.

"Daddy…" he cuddles into the crook of his father's neck.

Taishō walks over to his mate and sets Sesshōmaru down on the porch, "Don't worry, Sesshōmaru. I'll make sure that I come back as soon as possible," he gently wipes away his son's tears from his face, "Please, that's enough crying."

Sesshōmaru sniffles and Taishō softly puts his hand on Sesshōmaru's head, looks right at him, and then Sesshōmaru nods, "Uh-huh."

He gives Sesshōmaru another kiss, then he leaves but this time Sesshōmaru stays quiet because he believes in him.

When Taishō is a good distance away, he hears from afar, "**Daaaddyyy!**"

Sesshōmaru continues to cry until he can no more.

When Taishō finally returned, Sesshōmaru hugged, licked, kissed, snuggled and cried to and for his father for a long long time – overflowing with joy that he did indeed return to him.

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***Forgive any delays in chapters. School work is quite occupying and I don't always have access to the computer, so please be patient if there is a few weeks in between chapters. Don't worry, I won't stop; I have this story very planned out. I can guarantee that a chapter will be published until the end (which will be quite a ways from now).

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_To be continued..._

_Ch. 3- Snow Bunny_


	3. Snow Bunny

**Now, I think that there' going to be roughly a chapter a month, but I'm aiming for two. If you like this story, I suggest you alert it or something. Part of the reason is due to my schoolwork and also I just get plain ol' distracted. So just be patient, and I'm sorry for the time in between chapters.**

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• _Italicized= thoughts _• *within asterisks= sound effects* •Chichi-ue= archaic, polite form of "Father"

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Sesshōmaru Ante Iam- Chapter 3~Snow Bunny

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Sesshōmaru is two and half years old. He can speak quite a bit, and Taishō has taught a certain phrase which Sesshōmaru repeats consistently.

"Daddy? Daddy? I love you, Daddy!"

Taishō has Sesshōmaru sitting on his lap, "Yes, I love you too."

"Oh! Daddy? I love you."

Taishō chuckles.

"Why did you teach him that?"

It's Tōtōsai and Myōga.

"Oh, because-"

"I love you."

"—he may not want to say it anymore when he's older."

"Daddy! Da—aaaddy…."

"What is it?"

"I. Love! You!" Sesshōmaru giggles and rolls around on his father's lap.

"Besides…"

"I love you, I love you, Daddy, I love you!" he says in sing-song.

"…isn't it just the most adorable thing in the world!" His eyes sparkle.

Myōga and Tōtōsai feel pretty awkward….

Taishō's face relaxes, "When he's older, there's a good chance that he'll feel too embarrassed to say it. So, I'm going to have him say it now."

"Oo, oh, oh, oh," Sesshōmaru clings to his father's sleeve hopping up and down, "Oh!"

Taishō smiles, "What?"

"I love you, Daddy!"

"Yes, and I love you too, Sesshōmaru."

~~Winter; Two years later~~

Sesshōmaru is four and a half years old. He's developed a habit of wondering off on his own. Taishō has a number of enemies, but some more cowardly and weak, more willing to resort to dirty measures to get to him.

Sesshōmaru is walking in the snow in white poofy hakama with a top that looks like Jaken's but white with little pink flower patterns at the collar, left shoulder, sleeves' ends, and at the ends of the cloth that are at the front and back which hangs below his thin, black sash. The ends of the hanging cloth reach a bit past his knees; he has a red kosode underneath which is visible at the collar, through slits in the shoulders, and the slits at the sides of the top, and he has on little black boots. His white hair isn't pass his shoulders. He's also wearing a little yellow scarf.

As he walks he notices a white rabbit, he stops, he hides behind a tree, and crouches down on all fours.

"_Observe you prey. Remain totally and completely silent. Remember to stay calm and breathe steadily. Don't be too rash or too excited. You must wait patiently until just the right moment, and when you judge it to be so, that's when you -" _

*Pounce* *_Sli-i-ide_* *Ro-o-oll*

Sesshōmaru sits up with his arms around the rabbit. He shakes his head, "Hah! Gotcha'!" *giggles* _Chichi-ue's advice worked! Well, of course it would!_

The rabbit struggles to escape.

*Hug* "Your fur is sooo soft!"

He stands up to take a better look at it, "I shall call you Mr. Winter!"

(Mr. Winter makes a cameo appearance in Ch. 2 of _Mr. Chicken _by, well, me)

Sesshōmaru senses something. _Yōkai? I, I should get going…_

He begins to walk away when to his left – *Blam !*

He barely misses it and falls to the ground (while still holding the rabbit). He rises, "What the -?"

"Kukuku, you're still just a pup, aren't you? You should be easy enough prey."

*gasps* Sesshōmaru runs.

The demon floating in the air is in semi-humanoid form, wears armor, and wields a double sided naginata. He appears in front of Sessōmaru, "You're the Great General's brat, correct?"

_Chichi-ue… he said not to answer such questions from someone who seems like there gonna hurt me…_ He runs the other way.

"Do you think that's going to help?"

"Maybe!"

He fires another blast; Sesshōmaru dodges into the forest.

"The pup actually dodged it… Hmph, let's see if he can dodge this!" He flips the spear to its other end and flames spout from it aimed at the forest.

Sesshōmaru's eyes widen at the approaching wave of fire, "No…" he squeezes his eyes shut, and curls into a ball with the rabbit, "Chichi-ue!"

The flames engulf the trees.

After a moment, Sesshōmaru opens an eye- _Why am I not dead? _

"Ah…"

Sesshōmaru widens his eyes, that voice, "Ch-chichi-ue?"

Taishō is shielding him, "It'll be okay. I won't let you die, not ever, got that?"

The fire ceases and Taishō rises to his feet, his back to the demon. He turns his head to look at the demon, and when he catches the demon's gaze, glares at him with burning indignation. In a clipped voice he orders of his son "Stand back."

Sesshōmaru gazes on, lost, barely even able to summon any nerve to stammer out a "Yes, sir."

He stares at him in awe, in admiration, in disbelief… in _fear…_

His father wears a red robe over his armor that reaches down to his knees. His gauntlet, cuirass, and tasset reflect the light of the smoldering flames, flames whose light creates shadows on his father's face, shadowing the wrinkles of his furrowed brow, of the corners of his mouth. He raises his hand, the sharp claws – _Since when has his hand looked like that? Since when does it look like they can hurt? _–they crack, the light of the fire giving them a deadly sheen.

The demon, attempts to swallow the fear in his voice, "So… y-you've come to the rescue? Th-then, since you're here, you're going to die!"

In quick succession he fires both attacks of his naginata – an explosion – clouds of debris.

When it all clears, no one is there.

"Chichi-ue!"

"Hah! Looks like you're not so great after al…" _The kid's staring up at the sky…_

He is, with huge eyes, ones filled with unspeakable feelings.

The demon looks up- _Crap—_that's all he gets to register - *_Shlu-u-rk!_*

A streak of gold, a flash of red, descends upon its victim vertically, parting both the prey and its spear to nothing.

Sesshōmaru just stares on, mouth open, as he watches his father up above, float down with ease; his red robe flowing, his armor shining, his long silver hair settling, and his gold eyes – such a composed expression; then landing softly on the ground, no need to even bend his knees.

Sesshōmaru runs over to him, stopping at his feet, and after a pause, "Th-that, that w-wa-was – it was, was, you were – Amazing…!"

His eyes widen, sparkling with reverence; he smiles as big as he can, blushing, "It was, was -_Excellent_!- _Magnificent Father_!"

With the rabbit still in his arms, Sesshōmaru raises one of his arms up, "Chichi-ue… *hops* up?"

Taishō looks down at his precious little child, smiles, and picks him up bringing Sesshōmaru close to his face, "Um… what are you doing with that rabbit?"

"Oh? … right! I caught him, so, uh… can I keep him?" Sesshōmaru does the puppy-dog look: the eyes, the pouting, and the whining, "Please, pleaaase?" *_whi-ine_*

Taishō stares at him for quite a while… *Squee-eze* _He's sooo __**adorable! **__I can't possibly say no to that __**sweet**__ little face!_

"Fine, you can keep him, but remember, you have to take good care of him and be responsible for him, understand?"

"Yes. Yes, of course I will! Me and Mr. Winter thank you! *mwah!* Thank you- *Smooch!* -so much, Father!" *kii-iisss*

Taishō smiles even more, and gives Sesshōmaru a peck, "Let's go home."

_~*~Sesshōmaru's first memory~*~_

* * *

つ づ く...

_To be continued..._

_Next chapter: Yume_


	4. Yume

• _Italicized= thoughts _• *within asterisks= sound effects* • Chichi-ue= archaic, polite form of "Father" • ^^within these= flashback^^ • "-chan"= used to express endearment, mostly toward girls. Also used for little boys, pets, even lovers; sense of childish cuteness; like English "-y/-ie" • "-sama"= confers great respect; like "Lord/Lady" • "-san"= most common honorific, equivalent to Mr., Miss, Ms., Mrs.; all purpose honorific and can be used in any situation where politeness is required

* * *

Sesshōmaru Ante Iam- Chapter 4~Yume

* * *

Yes, little Sesshōmaru certainly does _appear _as a child of sweetness and love, but this is hardly the case. These demonstrations of humility, respect, kindness, affection, and love are only reserved for a select few – _immediate_family only, that of his father's side of the family to be exact. Even those who are deemed acceptable to see Sesshōmaru behave in such a way don't always get the chance. The eyes of another, one outside the circle of those loved by him, will suspend this sweet behavior even if it's to his own father.

This is how little Sesshōmaru typically acts toward other children.

^^Taishō was watching a five-year-old Sesshōmaru from a far. For some reason he was digging a hole in the ground. Hn, probably to hide something. Then another child comes over. Sesshōmaru tells him to look in the hole and the little boy does so.

*Shwaa!* "Waah!" Sesshōmaru threw sand in his face, and laughs about it.

"No, Sesshōmaru! Bad, bad puppy, apologize!"^^

He does things like this often. Not surprisingly, Sesshōmaru doesn't have any friends.

Taishō has a friend who came to Japan some time ago. Taishō helped him settle in, and one day he spoke of Sesshōmaru's anti-social behavior, that was when his friend suggested that perhaps his daughter, who is Sesshōmaru's age, could become his friend. It's worth a try.

She, and his wife and other older son, would shortly be arriving to Honshu.

Taishō brings Sesshōmaru to a field with scattered trees, thickening farther out. They stand under, a rather random, Bo tree (also known as a Bodhi tree or Peepul tree), while the surrounding trees are Camphor Laurels. Some six yards (or two meters) from the farthest reaching branch of the Bo tree, the ground slopes down into a relatively plain field.

Sesshōmaru is six-years-old.

Taishō and his friend stand across from one another under the tree, each with his child by his side.

The little girl has tan skin, wavy brown hair with some lighter shades in it which is tied up in a mid-high ponytail and she has split bangs which reach down to her eyebrows. Her eyes are a pale green color with red v-like stripes under her eyes, the outer line of the 'v' reaches out to, and disappears into her hair line. She has thin rectangular stripes on both sides of her nose, and dark blue marks above her eyebrows. The mark that's above her right brow is like a backwards, very slanted to the left 'J' which almost forms a swirl at the end; at about the center of the 'J' emerges a ~ like mark; this mark is reflected for the left brow. She wears a brown, embroidered dress with short sleeves, and slippers that appear to be made of similar material as her dress.

Sesshōmaru looks up at his father, "So, Chichi-ue, what's her name?"

"Well, um…." He looks at his friend

"Literally: Dream Dancer, but you may call her Yume" (yume= Japanese for 'dream')

The little girl asks her father what the boy's name is. Sesshōmaru. What does it mean? Roughly, 'Killing Perfection.' Really? Yes. Whoa.

Sesshōmaru swallows and forces the corners of his mouth to pull up.

^^ (last night) "Sesshōmaru, please."

"No, I don't want to meet this girl."

"But, just try to make friends."

"I don't want to."

*sigh* "Can you at least _try_ to act polite? Just for a little while to this girl? Come on, puppy."

*blushes* "Nnnn…. Fine! But …"

"But what?"

"Tch, never mind. I'll '_try'_ to be nice to the girl, Chichi-ue." ^^

"Hajimemashite, Yume." (Nice to meet you)

(Konnichiwa= Good Day) She opens her mouth, "Ko- -on," pause, "itchi?… wah - - Sess-chan!"

Yume, at the moment, only knows greetings, how to say 'Good-bye', how to say 'Thank you', and how to use honorific suffixes, i.e. –san, -sama, -kun, –chan, etc.

Sesshōmaru just stares in shock at the girl, his eyebrows twitching, "Wh-what. Did. You. Just. Say?"

She points at him, "Sess-chan!"

"No! No, that's **not **my name. It's Sesshōmaru." He **is **_trying _to be nice and calm, but he's still twitching.

Yume points at him again and happily exclaims, "Sess-chan!"

More frustrated, "Ugh, Yume… can you… at **least **call me Sess-san?"

"Sess-chan!"

He snaps, "Aurgh!" he leaps on Yume.

*Crash* There's struggling, *Pow!*

He hit her… *Smack!* She got him!

Their fathers look on in a mix of horror, shock, and disappointment as Sesshōmaru and Yume roll down the slope fighting.

After a few moments of fighting, they leap to their feet, and hit each other square in the face; stunned, they both fall back. They prop themselves on their elbows and glare at each other, then notice in the grass a glimmer, two glimmers actually. Both reach out to grab one of the small glimmering things, then stand, and when they see what's in their hand, they see a fang.

They both feel their own mouths with their tongues and realize that they're missing a tooth – their fang.

Sesshōmaru and Yume assume that each is holding the others fang so Yume reaches out her hand to Sesshōmaru with the fang in her hand and he does the same.

They each receive a fang, stare at the one in their hand for a bit, unsure whether or not it's their own, but then look at each other.

*_qui-eet_*

They bow.

Taishō's red-striped eyelids flutter, "What…. just happened?"

"I… I think they, I think they earned one anothers…. respect?"

"So… does that mean… they're going to get along?"

"I… I don't know."

"Let's hope that they will."

"Yes… yes we should, Taishō-sama."

* * *

つ づ く...

_To be continued..._

_Ch. 5- Nihongo Lessons_


	5. Nihongo Lessons

• _Italicized= thoughts _• *within asterisks= sound effects* •Chichi-ue= archaic, polite form of "Father" • "-chan"= used to express endearment, mostly toward girls. Also used for little boys, pets, even lovers; sense of childish cuteness; like English "-y/-ie" • "-sama"= confers great respect; like "Lord/Lady"

* * *

Sesshōmaru Ante Iam- Chapter 5~Nihongo* Lessons

*Nihongo is Japanese for "Japanese" (language)

The Japanese has three writing systems: hiragana (ひらがな), katakana (カタカナ), and kanji (文字). Hiragana and Katakana are phonetic symbols, like ka, tsu, chi, etc, while kanji are the characters which have a meaning and may be pronounced in different forms. Little kids and learners of the Japanese language usually start off by learning Hiragana and Katakana - the easy stuff.

* * *

~~Two Days Later at the manor~~

Sesshōmaru is finishing up a hiragana lesson with his father. Taishō double-checks his work.

"Chichi-ue, how did I do?"

"You've done well, puppy. Correct usage of tentens (hi+ little lines= bi び) and marus (hi+ little circle= pi ぴ), and you didn't mix any of them up (れ re VS ね ne). You also made the conjugations well (しょ shi+ little yo= sho). I believe you now have a firm grasp on your basic writing skills."

"Really, Father?"

"Yes, you do."

Sesshōmaru hops up, *mwah* "Thank you! *hug* You're a good teacher, Chichi-ue," he lets go and goes to gather papers. He writes a hiragana syllable on each.

"My son… what are you doing?"

"I'm going to teach that Yume-girl Japanese."

"Oh. Alright."

"If it's not too much to ask, Chichi-ue, but can you take me down to that spot from a while ago? From where you introduced me to her? Please, sire."

"….sure…"

~~Under the Bo tree~~

Yume and Sesshōmaru sit under the tree. Their dads watch from a far.

Sesshōmaru has in one hand his 'flashcards' and in the other a long thin twig.

Yume now wears a kimono with sandals.

"Alright, Yume, I [points to himself] shall be tea-ching [holds up the papers] you [points at her] Jap-a-nese.[shifts the stick to his other hand, and with the free hand closes and opens his hand like a mouth] Un-der-stand?"

She stares at him and nods hesitantly, "Sess-chan?"

(Hai= Yes) "You [points at her] will say [makes hand-mouth] 'Hai, Sensei.'"

"….Hah… sanzz-"

*whak* he hit her head with the stick, "No."

"Aah…. (mutters incoherently) Sess-chan!"

"Say 'Hai, Sensei.'"

"Hai…san-sheh?"

*whak!*

"Aaah!"

"Sen-**sei**!" then he calls her a twit under his breath.

"Sen…seh?"

*sigh* "Fine, that's close enough." _This is a lot harder than I thought it'd be._

This is essentially how their Nihongo Lessons go: Sesshōmaru teaches her something, hits her with the stick, eventually Yume can't take it anymore, and then they fight.  
Despite all of Sesshōmaru's efforts, she won't stop calling him 'Sess-chan' to which Sesshōmaru gets in a fight with her. But all of their fights end in draws, and no matter what he does she refuses to address him as anything else. After some time Sesshōmaru saw it futile to keep fighting with her to stop calling him 'Sess-chan', and besides the girl just won't stop calling him 'Sessy'! so, he finally gives in and lets her get away with it. She can call him 'Sess-chan' but anyone else who tries is going to suffer!  
They play games with each other, albeit with some difficulty because of the language barrier, and they even try to train.  
To communicate they regularly do something along the lines of playing charade, and even establish some pieces of their own personal sign language.

Two weeks have passed.

Sesshōmaru and Yume are in the forest for today's Nihongo Lesson: Hana no Namae (the Names of Flowers).

Sesshōmaru picks up a bell-shaped, blue-purple flower, "This flow-er is called a 'ki-kyō.' (Chinese Bellflower or Balloon Flower)

"Ki-ih-koh."

"No. *exhales* 'Ki.'"

"Ki…?"

"Good. 'Kyō.'"

"Koh?"

"'Kyō.'"

"Kiyō."

"No, '**ky**ō.'"

"Kyō?"

"Yes, that's right. Say 'kikyō.'"

"Kikyō?"

"Yes, Yume."

"Yay! Kikyō!" she points to the flower, "Yume… [points to herself] Preesh, Sess-chan?"

Sesshōmaru looks at the flower and her, "You want [points at her] it? [points at flower]"

"Hai, a-neh-gya." (she means 'onegai' =please)

"Okay. Here."

"Arigatō." (thank you, said correctly by the way)

They suddenly tense up….there's something…

"Sess-chan…yah-ka?"

(demon) "It's 'yō-kai' Yume, and yes, I think it is."

"Sess-chan, Yume?" she imitates running with her fingers.

"Yeah. Come on let's go."

They begin to leave-*SMASH* a club hit a tree behind them. It's an oni (Japanese ogre).

Yume screams, "Wha-wha?-Sess-chaaan!"

It dawns on Sesshōmaru that this is the first time she's ever seen an oni. He grabs her by the hand, "Run!"

They start running; Sesshōmaru hears Yume muttering something- _I think…she's praying… Kh! Damn, we have to get out of here!_

It's behind them.

"This way!"

Yume trips over a root letting go of his hand. "Yume…"

As he tries to help her the oni catches up, "Come on, Yume!" he looks at her, "Yu…me…?" _She so scared – she can't even move… _"Come on, snap out of it. Get up!"

She stares at the oni in horror, with wide, tearing up eyes, trembling and whimpering.

Sesshōmaru looks at it, with less horror, but still…

"Kuku, two helpless little children. Don't you look good to eat?"

_What do I do? He's too big…Yume can't get up… Do I, do I keep running alone- no! I, I can't do that and just leaver her here to die, but, but __**I, I **__don't wanna die__!_

The oni licks his chops, cracks his claws, and goes in for the kill.

_This is it! _

Sesshōmaru squints his eyes and right before the monster rips them to shreds, in desperation Sesshōmaru raises his hands in front and away from himself, "Stay away!"

*_Tsshhh…..sssttt….*_

The ogre's head gone, it falls forward about to land on Sesshōmaru. He pushes himself back in a panic just missing the heavy body.

It's dead. The heads gone. There's only a stump at the neck.

"S-Sess-ch-chan…"

Sesshōmaru's eyes widen and he turns around to look at her but says nothing. He looks down at his own hands- _Did I…?_

~~Late afternoon~~

Sesshōmaru and his parents are ready to leave for home, but then a messenger appears.

"Pardon my interruption m'lord and lady, but Higaki-san wishes to see young master Sesshōmaru. Apparently it's to thank him for saving his daughter."

"What?" both of Sesshōmaru's parents say.

The messenger guides Higaki, his wife, his son and daughter Yume to where Sesshōmaru and his parents are.

Taishō says, "Higaki-san… um, what **did **Sesshōmaru do with Yume exactly?"

Yume tugs at her father's clothes speaking to him.

"Uh-huh. Oh really? Okay," he turns to them, "Well, Yume says that a large ugly beast with horns was going to eat them, but then Sesshōmaru killed it. Eh, she said that it's head 'went away' and so, because of that my Lord General, we decided to all come and thank him for his bravery." He bows and everyone else in his family follow suit.

Sesshōmaru's mother looks at her child, "Sesshōmaru, is this true?"

"Uh-huh, but I, I don't know how I did it… exactly…"

~~Night in the manor~~

Taishō and his mate are in the same room speaking.

Sesshōmaru is asleep in a different room.

Taishō states to his mate, "He's taken on your side of the family."

"That does appear to be so."

"Should he be trained already?"

"…he's six-years-old, but he's already killed an oni by spraying acid from his hands…"

~~Meanwhile, in Sesshōmaru's room~~

He opens his eyes wide suddenly, quickly sits straight up in his futon and begins to look around in the dark, "Hello?"

Nothing.

_Must be my imagination…. _*gasp!*

He's held down by something, more than one, not much bigger than himself. They're light in weight, dark in color making them difficult to see in the darkness, and don't have much of a scent.

His mouth is gagged.

"Sh… you won't be feeling anything soon…"

Sesshōmaru feels a cold, metallic, sharp tip on his neck – they're going to slit his throat…

He struggles and the little things complain that they can't get a clear place to cut because of all his fidgeting.

His manages to get a hand free, and Sesshōmaru throws his arm to where he believes the one holding the blade is—

*_Tsshhh!*_

_"Gyaargh!"_

_*sssttt….* _

*klak*

The others hold him down even harsher, but then suddenly he's pulled away…

"Ah!" *shlak!*

*_sli-i-ice!_*

*_plech…_*

Sesshōmaru sniffs, he's in someone's arms, his mother, and over there his father – he killed them.

"Is something wrong?" Sesshōmaru's mother says to Taishō.

"I… don't know."

Taishō's sharp experienced eyes can see well enough… well enough to see one of the beings with most of its head missing – dissolved away.

* * *

つづく...

*** Good news! Ch. 6- Poison is not gonna come out in January, but...  
**next week! **Dec. 17  
Yay!

**PS **If it's not too much to ask, I'd like for those of you reading to recommend this story to those of whom you think will like it;  
and also, if your reading and like this story (and have read up to this point) then please, a review would be appreciated.

And to Taraah36, thank you very **very ****very** much for your constant reviews. I have kept this going because of them :D  
(that's why I'd like to see just a _bit _more reviews - to keep going - a _bit _more would be really nice)

* * *

Tee hee hee- slight mistake slipped by me and Taraah36 caught it: added "Gyaargh!" when the demon dies.  
So they came because the thing that Sess killed screamed as it died from being hit by acid and also the dropping of that blade made a *klak* sound so they arrived due to sound (and they're really fast too)


	6. Poison

**To answer Taraah36's question and what you may have been wondering as well:  
**_I don't know what those things were. I originally wanted it to be like little demons/imps but I realized they live somewhere high (in the sky) and they'd be detected. I kinda wanted something that attacked children, so in the end for my lack of being able to come up with anything I winged it sorta and was dark and vague about them - I kinda realized that it sounded a lot scarier that way (which I thought was good)_

_Those things...  
were something from darkness...  
from a nightmare..._

_Let's just leave it at that O_0_

* * *

•Chichi-ue= archaic, polite form of "Father" • Otō-sama= very respectful form of "father" • "-sama"= confers great respect; like "Lord/Lady"

• Note: I'm rather descriptive with my OCs, but once I do describe their physical characteristics I pretty much don't mention them again. It's just I want to truly show you my vision – of what's in my mind. Also, I tend to reference other anime to help with imagining my vision. ***For this chapter, pay attention to how certain character are described or how much.

* * *

Sesshōmaru Ante Iam- Chapter 6~Poison

* * *

~~A week later~~

Sesshōmaru's maternal grandparents came to visit, and so have his paternal grandparents but they came over to the manor because they were informed about Sesshōmaru.

Sesshōmaru sits on his paternal grandfather's lap with his little legs hanging from the side. He holds a big sweet bun that's about 1/3 of his size, which he bites into happily.

Everyone's sitting at a table: Mom, Dad, and both of their parents.

His father's father wears white hakama, white tabi, a white button-down, high-collared, long-sleeved, Chinese shirt with blue trim at the edges. An open deep purple kimono over that, with a white pattern of laying down crescents and three diamonds at the center of the curved side on the bottom. Black gloves that reach to the knuckles.  
He has one jagged indigo line at each cheek that slant in such a way that they enhance his high cheek bones. A firm, straight-lined, smooth nose; not too small or too conspicuous, and it is at level with his long, thin face. A sharp jaw line that ends with a pointy, gray goatee. Large, slender eyes framed in gray – lashes like those of Sesshōmaru's. The outer corners of his eyes have a red sideways 'v' stemming immediately from his eyelids: the concave side faces into his eye and the vertex curves a little out into his temples but stops before the hairline. It makes his eyes look slenderer. The eyes are topped off by gray eyebrows like Inuyasha's. His gray hair is in a long, thin, tight French braid and his bangs are short, scruffy, somewhat ragged and messy with two little tuffs in the same style at the sides of his face that don't even go past his ears. He has long pronounced tear troughs under his eyes; a face etched in it pain and wisdom. His whole body is long and slender. Yet all these strong features can be ignored by his captivating, alluring, gorgeous eyes. They are peacock-blue and shine – flash – swim – flare – reflect everything vividly.

With his arms around his only grandchild he speaks, "Did the two of you hear about how Sesshōmaru is living up to his name?" (His voice is like Crispin Freeman [Itachi, Hagi, Holland, Jeremiah])

Sesshōmaru's Mother's father, "Come again, Mikazuki-sama?"

"Oh! So you guys didn't know? My, my…"

The other grandfather of Sesshōmaru has a usual Heian period male's haircut, and a usual high-class Japanese outfit of the time. His hair is gray too; mustache and beard; very pale yellow eyes, almost white; no marks except for the blue crescent moon on his forehead; he has wrinkles: crows' feet, frown lines, on forehead, under eyes, "What does he mean by this?"

Before either of Sesshōmaru's parents can answer grandmother, Mikazuki's wife, speaks up, "Mika's saying that Sesshōmaru killed an oni and another demon with his own poison."

Taishō's mother is short and petite with big, round, dull yellow-gold eyes. Her small, thin nose curves up a bit at the tip. She has an even profile. Overall, her face is soft and round; nothing sharp nor exaggerated nor special in her bone structure. Her cheeks have dark, pine-green, nearly black in dimness, triangles: the base is at the top of her cheeks which then taper to a point at just before her jaw, at level with the corners of her mouth (like _Naruto_'s Kiba Inuzuka). On her forehead is an aqua "flower": it's a dot, underneath it is like a curved 'v' that thins as it joins at the vertex; beneath the curves, on both sides, are two more aqua marks that look like almost flat crescents with their points down. Her hair is also gray and reaches down to the small of her back tied at mid-back with split bangs that frame her face: the longest point is to mid-neck, then gets shorter from there.  
Black kimono decorated with wave-like white patterns at the bottom; underneath a red one. The black kimono bears large split openings at the shoulders showing the red one beneath, and she wears a white under-kimono which is visible at the collar. She has a double-layered yellow obi with sewn round little bell designs, tied in a big bow at her back with a red knot visible in the front.

The other grandmother looks at her daughter, "What can your son do?"

Grandpa Mikazuki answers, "Didn't you hear her? The child **killed** something already!" his voice is becoming rougher, "He has your guys' abilities but our side is what gave him some real power behind his venom [pats Sesshōmaru's head] and now he's an itty-bitty killer."

The other grandfather, "What do you mean your side gave him 'some real power'?"

"Did I stutter?"

Taishō, "Otō-sama, don't!"

"Don't what, child?"

"Just don't…"

The other grandmother, "If you don't mind my asking General, but I would like to hear what your father has to say."

"Oh come on, you know what I mean. Do I really need to explain this to you?"

The other grandmother, "Yes, do 'enlighten' us, Mikazuki-sama."  
She has her gray hair tied in ponytails which hang in front of her, the knots are tied at neck level by fancy ties; she has one swirled red line (kind of like this ~) beneath each bright yellow eye. She wears blue eye shadow, red lipstick, and is dressed in the classic multi-layered kimono-style of the early Heian era.

Grandpa Mikazuki tilts his head back, *sigh*  
"Well… as you know there's a natural hierarchy for everything," he lifts his head back up, and grins thus revealing his larger than average yōkai-in-human-form fangs. His eyes flash sharply – now a sea blue color, "At the bottom: bugs, worms, **maggots**.  
"Above them, the animals that eat them, above they larger animals which includes humans because big predatory animals can take down humans and humans can kill them sometimes. Very weak, weak demons too since an average human with a hoe could probably kill those pests, which is why they're grouped together.  
"Next is skilled humans, you know: Demon Slayers, monks, priests, that can take on lesser demons who aren't insignificant pests.  
"From there, humans with 'power', like 'holy' spiritual stuff, which can slay stronger, usual demons, perhaps ones stronger than that, and then they get out-matched by very strong demons.  
"After which, there's the 'almost, but not quite' very strong yōkai, they're like almost daiyōkai, but – no.  
"Finally, actual Greater Demons – us – yet there as well there are 'ranks.'"

Other grandfather interrupts, "Are, are you… saying? *scoffs* That your family is _stronger_?" he pauses and looks around the room, "Mikazuki-sama, I did not believe that you - such arrogance!"

Grandpa mocks, "Mikazuki-**sama! **Mikazuki-**sama! **Mikazuki-**sama! **Do you hear yourselves? Don't deny it, you know exactly what I mean! You **know** my blood is stronger, and that's why you're all respectful – 'cause your scared!  
"Honestly man, think about it. This little six-year-old **kid** has poison strong enough to dissolve the head of an oni – how many demons in your family had such power at his age?"

No response.

"Your blood may have been what gave him poison, but ours is what brought it to the level of real daiyōkai power. Before this boy [places his hand on Sesshōmaru's head] is even fully grown, his poison will have surpassed yours."

Sesshōmaru looks up at him. Grandpa Mikazuki shifts the boy with his left arm and with his right picks up his staff to push himself up.

"Are you okay, Gramps?"

"Yeah."

His brown staff reaches to eye-level of his 6'1/2'' /184.3 cm self; it bends at a 90 degree angle, and about a foot below it another piece of wood, shorter than the top bend, that's parallel to the top, like an 'F'

"I'll be outside, child," he limps away with Sesshōmaru in his arms, turns left, and is gone.

When he's a good distance away he leans his left shoulder to the wall, his knees beginning to bend.

"Ojii?"

He rolls to his back and allows himself to slide down to a sitting position, "Yeah, child?"

Sesshōmaru scrambles out of his arms and stands at his grandpa's left side, "Are you gonna be okay?"

Grandpa closes his eyes, lays the staff across his lap, and grabs his right knee, "I'll be okay."

"Ojii… about the stuff you said – about me… what did you mean?"

"Our blood is very strong, stronger than your mother's side, but it's just that they don't wanna admit it… ah, and their a bunch of 'stiffs' too, the really annoying kind."

"Then… my poison is gonna be really strong?"

"Yup," he looks at him, "But, let's not have them teach you yet about that."

"Why not?"

"You're a runt for one, and, heh, you don't even know how to actually fight yet, that's why."

"But I'm sure they're gonna make me."

"No, there not."

"How come?"

"I said so."

"But-"

"I'm Mikazuki dammit! They know their place, pfft, your old man still flinches by my threats," he staggers back onto his feet, supporting himself with his staff, and begins to walk.

Sesshōmaru starts to follow, but stops, "Hey… doesn't your name mean the same as this?" he points to the blue crescent moon on his forehead.

Gramps turns around, "Yeah, but I gave that name to myself, I wasn't born with it. Besides, that mark would look better on me anyway."

"Gramps, aren't you being pres-ump-tuous?"

He turns around, "Pay heed, refrain from attempting to master the eloquence of rhetoric at this stage of your infantile development in an effort to be a smart-aleck with me by futile ignorant usage of sophisticated vocabulary that is beyond the fathoms of your current mental capacity."

Sesshōmaru stares at him very lost.

"Exactly!" he limps away.

Sesshōmaru blinks and shakes his head, "Ojii! Wait!"

***Mikazuki (三日月) literally the kanji read "3rd day of the moon (month)" which in the lunar calendar is the night of the crescent moon, so thus the name means "Crescent Moon"***

~~Time has passed, but not too much~~

Taishō has gone, and Sesshōmaru is on a little outing with someone.

He's picking some flowers, then turns around, "Mwin-ba-chan!"

"What is it, Setchan?" answers a white-haired lady dressed in red.

*giggles* "D'you like these?"

"Why yes, I do. They're very pretty!"

Sesshōmaru blushes and then runs over to her, "Here you go Auntie Mwin."

"Thank you! *mwah* Aren't you a good boy! *smooch* Who's a good little puppy?"

"…Me."

*kiss* "Who's a thoughtful lil' boy?"

"… I, I am."

"That's right!" *Smooch* she stops.

"Ba-chan… are you okay?"

"What? Oh, yes. I'm okay."

"Is something wrong?"

"No. Come on, let's go home to you mommy, 'kay?"

"Mm-hm."

They leave.

Now Sesshōmaru's senses are all still developing, smell is good but it's not like it will be when he's older, so normally he wouldn't have picked this up, but a strong gust blew from behind them carrying with it a _very_ familiar scent.

The lady covers her eyes to keep away any dirt and by the time she removes it she no longer sees Sesshōmaru. She looks back, "Setchan!"

Sesshōmaru doesn't listen, he keeps running to that direction- _Chichi-ue! Chichi-ue! He's this way! It's his scent!_

She follows him but Sesshōmaru, being small as he is, takes paths ducking under bushes and branches making him much more difficult to keep track of, nonetheless for a moment she had caught him, yet when she tried to pick him up he bit her and kept running through that leafy labyrinth.

"Sorry Auntie!"

She arrives at a hill and stops. At the bottom of it is Taishō, his men, and the enemy.

"Chichi-ue!" she spots Sesshōmaru running toward him.

Taishō looks, "Go back! Now!" but the enemy releases shouki (miasma) and everyone dodges it… except Sessōmaru, who runs into it.

Taishō's eyes widen in horror. Hair stands on end. Teeth clench, "**Sesshōmaru!**"

Just as he begins to take a step toward the miasma, Sesshōmaru comes running out, "Chichi-ue!" he runs up to his legs and hugs him, "Chi-chi-ue… I missed you."

Taishō, though, remains in shock. How in the…? He looks at him – he's okay…

He slowly kneels down to his son, "Do, do you feel… al-alright?"

Sesshōmaru looks up at him, "Yes. Why, Chichi-ue? Did I do something wrong?"

"….N-no."

"Master! The enemy!"

He stands up, "Sesshōmaru, stay behind me, understand?"

"Yes, sir."

It's not long. Still, Taishō remains shaken. He picks Sesshōmaru up in his arms and walks over to the lady.

"H-how is he?"

"H-he's… fine."

"Fine…? But how could-"

"H-he's just okay."

"Chichi-ue, Ba-chan, what did I do?"

They don't know what to say.

…the miasma left behind dead grass, but he's okay?

Yes. He's okay – no sign of having just run through a cloud of miasma… none whatsoever.

* * *

つ づ く...

_Ch. 7- The Autumn Season_


	7. The Autumn Season

_Well, we're half way through Part 1. I shall now give this part its official, complete title_

Sesshōmaru Ante Iam **Part 1: Early Years**- Chapter 7~The Autumn Season

* * *

_Sesshōmaru has truly begun his training in hand-to-hand fighting; he regularly implements on/teaches Yume what he's learned. He continues to give her Nihongo Lessons. They play, further develop their own little sign language, and even hold races out of a need to compete/to become faster._

_Sesshōmaru has also begun being taught to meditate so that he may ultimately develop his (its very likely considering both his father and mother can) ability to fly, this is also so that he can learn to focus his yōki (demonic energy) into his claws so that he may be able to cut through things/demons, and as Granpa Mikazuki wished he's not being taught to use poison yet (the major reason is because the stuff they're teaching him already is quite time consuming and rather a heavy load on such a small child, he should also have free time to enjoy his childhood.)_

_***Examples of this shall be shown in later chapters, it's just I felt that it wouldn't fit well with what is below, so I simply gave a summary of it***_

* * *

~~One Year Later~~

It's autumn. Sesshōmaru is 7-years-old.

Taishō walks finding Sesshōmaru standing beneath a tree looking up at its leaves, "There you are!"

Taishō kneels next to him putting his hand on Sesshōmaru's head and also looks up at the leaves, "They are nice, aren't' they?"

"M-hm."

"Sesshōmaru."

"Yes, father?"

He asks, feeling he that he's already figured out the answer, "What's your favorite season?"

Sesshōmaru looks at him somewhat confused, "My favori…? Um… fall?" he thinks, "Yeah, fall."

Taishō removes his hand, "Is that so?"

"Well… winter's second."

"Oh, really, why?"

Sesshōmaru looks up at the falling leaves, "Everything becomes…. _quiet_. It all goes away; the snow covers everything, it covers everything in a silent blanket of death."

Taishō stiffened. A part of him wanted immediately to deny what he had just heard, but reason, a certain thought picked at his denial…  
_Sessh_ō_maru… he's like his mother,_ he thought. And then he swallowed, near dreading the possible response, "And… what about autumn?"

The expression on his face was almost, no, it **was**, he had such a comforting look on his face when he said it, "The green leaves change color; to red, yellow and orange, then shrivel up and fall…"  
Taishō looked on for a moment, Sesshōmaru looked like someone full of compassion, like what he wanted him to be.

Sesshōmaru continued, "Dead is one thing, but it's not… _interesting_."

He's smiling.

_My son is smiling at the idea of death._

"You can't do anything with something that's already dead, and fall is like the…. the act. I guess…"

_The child… yes, __**Sesshōmaru**__ indeed._ Taishō rises. He felt ill at ease in his blood. Shaking his head, trying to dismiss the disgust from his mind, tired of war and death, but he still regretted it. Taishō, the great Dog General, stood quietly under the tree, watching his son.

"I guess, I like to watch things die."

The fearsome General felt a chill go down his spine.

* * *

つづく...

_Ch. 8- Eccentricities _


	8. Eccentricities

Sesshōmaru Ante Iam **Part 1: Early Years**- Chapter 8~Eccentricities

* * *

{first for what I promised from last chapter}

_Sesshōmaru's teaching in meditation so that he may ultimately develop his (its very likely considering both his father and mother can) ability to fly:_

"Oohmmm….. Oohmmmm…. Oohmmmm…."

Sesshōmaru opens his eyes, "Am I floating yet?"

"No," says his father.

Sesshōmaru rises from his lotus position frustrated, "I've been doing this for hours already! When am I going to begin to float?"

Taishō stares at him silently.

Sesshōmaru stares back- *sweatdrop – sweat_drop – __**sweatdrop~~blush**_***  
**He bows quickly, "I'm so sorry, Chichi-ue! I, I, I, I didn't mean to yell at you. I had no right – you deserve so much more respect than that! My humblest of apologizes, sire. I'm really, **really sorry!**"

"Calm down, puppy. You just have to be patient. If you focus, you will succeed."

"You really think so?" he asks with wide sparkly eyes.

"Yes, yes I do, puppy. Keep trying. You can do it!"

Sesshōmaru blushes some more, then he puts his little fists near his chest, "Yessir!"  
and resumes the lotus position.

"Ohmmm… Ohmmmm… Ohmmmmm…"

_Sesshōmaru's teaching in focusing his yōki (demonic energy) into his claws so that he may be able to cut through things/demons:_

"Ready, set [pause] Go!"

"Hiii—yah!"

Nothing. The piece of standing firewood received only a _tiny_ nick from Sesshōmaru's intended attack.

"Grrr…" *Kick!*

"Sesshōmaru."

He turns around to his father.

"Sorry…"

"You shouldn't let yourself become frustrated."

"But… I've been able to use my yōki before; I don't see why I ca-"

"You thought you were going to die."

"Hn?"

"On those occasions, you were terrified, that's why you were able to do that. This will be more difficult, since you have to summon your yōki with a calm mind. Sesshōmaru, breathe, clear you head and keep trying. You don't want to rely on fear to give you your powers do you?"

Sesshōmaru thinks, "No, I don't want that."

"That's good," he kneels down to Sesshōmaru and gives him a kiss.

Sesshōmaru blushes, says nothing, then turns around and continues trying to cut the firewood.

_Maybe he can rely on love… _Taishō thinks to himself.

{And now to show that our little Sesshy-sama is not perfect}

~~One year later~~

Sesshōmaru is 8-years-old. He's in the forest with his father, sniffing around on all fours.

Taishō- _Aw… isn't he just adorable!_

Sesshōmaru goes halfway into a bush with his legs kicking about. Taishō walks over and notices that the plant has lavender pink flowers and scarlet berries… it looks familiar – "Sesshōmaru!"

He grabs Sesshōmaru by the ankles yanking him out of the bush. Sesshōmaru has a red berry bunch in his hand, so Taishō flips him over *gulp* Sesshōmaru goes.  
His mouth is stained.

Taishō puts his son on his lap belly-down and starts smacking Sesshōmaru's back, "Spit. That. Out. **Now!**"

"Ow, ow, ow, ow! Chichi-ue! What, what did I do? Ow!"

He sits him down and grabs his little shoulders, "How many did you eat?"

"Uh… five…or six, seven…"

Rapidly Taishō asks "Do you feel burning in your throat or mouth? Does your tummy hurt? Your head? Do you need to go the bathroom? Are you dizzy?" he starts shaking him, "How do you feel?"

"Gh! Father! I feel fine! What's the matter?"

"Those were Daphne berries; they're **deadly**."

"I… I did what now…?"

"Let's take you home."

~~Later~~

Sesshōmaru got checked out by the medicine man of the property; Taishō and his mate sit nearby.

"Is, is he going to be alright?"

"It's been awhile. I-I- how is he still…?"

"That Taishō-sama, is something that I am not sure of; he looks fine. I checked him – he's fine. I, I don't know… he… uh…." shrugs.

~~Even Later~~

"Why did you call me here?" says Taishō's father while rubbing his bad leg.

"Look, Otō-sama, it's just-"

"Just what, child?"

"Sesshōmaru ate a bunch of Daphne berries this afternoon, and he's fine – he's not dying!"

"Say what now?"

Grandpa Mika then checks Sesshōmaru out, asking lots of questions. Eventually Sesshōmaru says something about the berries giving him a 'funny feeling' on his mouth. Grandpa leaves, returns, and gives Sesshōmaru a plant telling him to put it to his mouth.

"Well?"

"Hee hee, my lips tingle."

"Anything else?"

"They feel… 'fresh' too."

"Father-in-law-sama, what did you give him?"

"More poison."

"What!" say both parents.

"He's fine. Your sister told me about that miasma incident. Kh, if this kid's that damn immune to toxins now, then later on *whistle* Gotdamn! We'll see what happens."

"Otō-sama, but… did you have to 'experiment' with him?"

"Why yes I did, child. [looks to mom] See? Told you it was our blood that made him so strong," he pauses and asks more stoically, "Hey, in your family, has there ever been someone who was capable of detecting toxins through only mouth contact?"

"Uh? Well… if I remember correctly, I think a great-uncle of mine could."

"How effective was he?"

"They told me that he could detect what was fatal."

"Was that the fullest extent of that ability?"

"Yes, I believe it was."

"Um… what are you two talking about?"

"Your boy appears to be able to detect toxins upon contact with his lips, apparently it manifests as some 'feeling' on his lips and that indicates whether or not that substance is poisonous," he stands still holding the plant.

As he's about to leave-

"Otō-sama, is… is there anything else?"

"No, child. Not for now at least." _  
Well, the boy's already surpassed his great-great-uncle. My…that child had quite an interesting boy._

He smirks while gripping a stem of henbane, and leaves.

_***About Daphne berries: Even a single berry chewed but not swallowed typically causes intense burning in the throat and mouth. Consumption of a few berries can cause upset stomach, headaches, diarrhea, delirium, and seizures. If the victim falls into a coma, death can ensue***_

_***About henbane: Can be toxic, even fatal, to animals in low doses. Common effects of henbane ingestion in humans include hallucinations, dilated pupils, restlessness, and flushed skin***_

~~Immediate consequence of Sesshōmaru discovering that the weird feeling on his lips signified poison~~

Taishō is eating an apple when little Sesshōmaru runs to his father tugging frantically at his legs, "No! Don't do it!"

"What's wrong, puppy?"

"Don't eat that! In the middle of apples – don't! They're bad!" he's being sincere…

*sweatdrop* "Do you mean… apples are poisonous…?"

"And in the middle of plums, and peaches, and apricots, and cherries, they feel funny too! Please, Chichi-ue, I don't want you to get sick. I don't want you to die…" he hugs his father's leg.

Taishō looks back at the apple- _The middle…?  
_He puts down the apple and picks up his son, patting his back, but with a dumbfounded look on his face, "It's…. okay…."

He looks at the apple. An eyebrow twitches.

_***Apple seeds_ _contain cyanogenic glycosides; in most species of apple, the amount found in a single fruit won't kill a person; but it is possible to ingest enough seeds to provide a fatal dose.  
Same goes for plums, peaches, apricots, and cherries***_

~~A month later~~

At the dinner table, Taishō asks his child, "Puppy… what's wrong?"

The left side of Sesshōmaru's face leans on his fist as he picks at his food with the chop sticks with quite a bored expression, "Nnn."

His mother joins in, "Sesshōmaru, eat."

Finally, Sesshōmaru sets the sticks down and pushes the bowl while leaning away, "I'm tired of this food."

"Why?"

"It, it, I – ugh it's so – it tastes like nothing, well, almost, I guess. I mean the rice tastes like nothing, and the miso; the fish is alright, but-"

"Wait, what do you mean the miso tastes like 'nothing'?"

"That's what I mean, it has no flavor. It might as well be water."

His parents look at each other, then Sesshōmaru's mom, "But the miso is spiced."

"What of it? They didn't do anything to the miso," he looks at his parents who are staring at him awkwardly, "What?"

~~Two days later~~

"You need to stop calling me up here."

"I know it's a bother to you Otō-sama, but-"

"Yeah yeah, I know."

"What – Did you discover anything?"

"Hn? Oh! Yes I did, child. Your kid's sense of taste is crap."

"Excuse me?"

"Father-in-law-sama, can you… elaborate?"

*sigh* "Look, in all of my many, many years of observing and studying, I've found that yōkai are… complex, and toxic demons are interesting. They got lots going on: some can eat anything, touch anything they want and be fine. Other can detect any toxins no matter how subtle. Some shoot acid, and/or miasma from their mouths; through their claws and/or palms; ooze; drip venom from their fangs; or only do miasma, or venom, or only spray acid, or any combination of what I said, etcetera.  
"A common, hm…. how to say it? [Snaps] Got it. A common side-effect among toxic-yōkai who release acid and/or miasma from their mouths, whether in human or demon form, is a diminished sense of taste"

"Otō-sama…"

"I tested you kid. Of the six tastes he can only detect half."

_***The west believes in four tastes: __**sweetness, sourness, saltiness, **__and __**bitterness**__, recently a  
fifth taste has been added – __**umami**__ (Japanese for: "good flavor" or "good taste") it's the taste of meaty substances.  
But the Japanese, Chinese, and Indians consider __**spiciness**__ as the sixth taste***_

"So then, his ability to savor spices is dulled like hers?" Taishō points at his mate.

"Yes, and no. He is, bluntly, completely unable to savor spiciness. Or saltiness, or sourness for that matter."

"And…?"

"Let me make this very clear. Sesshōmaru. Cannot. Savor. Saltiness. Sourness. Or. Spiciness. At. All. For. S#*%."

"Fa-"

"Di-di-di-dih! He. **Cannot.**"

"Ot-"

"Sh! No. The answer is – **NO.**"

Everyone stays quiet for awhile, then Grandpa Mika speaks, "I gave the boy an extremely spicy plant that I was introduced to in my travels. Ooh…. Sesshōmaru thought it was sweet and bitter. I suppose it does have undertones of that, but it's hard to truly savor that part when your mouth is burning, but since he cannot savor spiciness in any way, what remains is the sweetness and bitterness of the plant.  
"I did the same with all the other tastes. His ability to savor sourness: nonexistent. For sweetness: quite intact, but it's possible that it's impaired; I can't say for certain at now. Tasting saltiness: nonexistent. Umami: intact. Lastly bitterness: unfortunately intact, but I believe it's somewhat dulled."

"Otō-sama, why can't he taste all of that?"

"It means that the little sucker has some potent s*#% inside him."

"What do you mean?"

*exhales* "Look, it's just a theory, but I've seen lost of taste only in yōkai who release acid and/or miasma from their mouths. This is the theory: if the ability to sense spiciness, sourness, and/or saltiness was fully intact, when the miasma/acid rolled from their mouths, well, the taste would be overwhelming. In fact, I've seen that those yōkai even have a dulled sense of pain on their tongues. Which tastes actually dull or disappear varies on what is in their toxin and its potency.  
"For us dogs, all our senses are heightened, so this would be a problem for a poison-dog – they actually have a more severe loss of taste.  
"The fact that over half of Sesshōmaru's tastes are defective means that some terrible toxin – perhaps not at that point _now_, but his body's getting ready, it knows somehow, his body will create something extremely potent that will most likely have a wide range of side-effects for its victims."

Sesshōmaru's mom puts her hand near her mouth, "Then, Sesshōmaru's a very… strong poison dog-yōkai?"

"Yup. A few years ago he took out an oni with his poison, then ran through miasma without any resulting harm – the miasma wasn't _that_ strong, but still, and apparently he can detect various toxins with different potencies, and on top of that, although it hasn't been demonstrated, he also has something terrible inside, so much so that half of his ability to taste has been sacrificed.  
"I have to admit, I haven't seen a poison-yōkai with all of that at once, but then again I haven't seen a poison-yōkai with the yōki level of one of us."

Mikazuki narrows his eyes at his daughter-in-law giving her a big fanged smirk, "Now, didn't I tell your mommy and daddy about who truly gave our precious little grandchild such strength?"

She looks down at her lap.

"Hmph," he stands up and begins to leave, "Oh, child, your kid's gonna have some screwed-up eating habits."

"What? Why?"

"Pfft, well for 1: he can eat whatever the hell he damn wants, and 2: the boy just has a *bleeped* up sense of taste."

*sweatdrop*

* * *

つ づ く...


	9. 9th Chapter

Sesshōmaru Ante Iam **Part 1: Early Years**- Chapter 9

* * *

Sesshōmaru sits on a rock swinging his legs; he's singing, "…Kumankai kuu-WAAH!"

Sesshōmaru falls back startled.

His father catches him, "Practicing?"

Sesshōmaru blushes, and nods.

"You pronounced the words well."

"How... much did you hear?" *blush*

"All of it; although I think you need to work on the accents."

"Un...I, I only remember a few words after that part, I only know the beginning."

"But what you remembered was good," he sits Sesshōmaru on his lap, "Shichusaa." *smooch*

"What does that mean?"

"Oh, it's just a nice thing to say."

***It means "l love you"***

"Does that lullaby have a name?"

"Mmm… no. It was never named."

"But I though Gramps made the song?"

"Yup. Every bit. He was a boy when he made up," Taishō frowns a little, "Back when he was alone."

Sesshōmaru knows something about why his father is reacting that way, so he's not going to ask about it, "Chichi-ue, can you tell me what the words mean?"

"...I'd rather not."

"I want to know. Tell me, plee~~ase, Chichi-ue?"

*sigh* "Fine-" he stops, "Actually on second thought, no."

"What?" Sesshōmaru hops up.

"I'll just tell you what the song _means_."

"Isn't that the same thing?"

"No. *inhale* Now Sesshōmaru, the main character in the song comes across someone and invites him as a guest. He gives him something to eat and they talk for awhile, then that person spends the night. As they sleep the main character hopes that they'll stay so that he won't be lonely anymore. 'Please come in… and please don't ever leave' he wishes. I think the guest stays…"

"So it's a happy ending!"

"I don't think so… because, in the end the main character talks about how hungry and hurt and sleepy he is… he begs the other to stay by his side and they say good night, but not before the main character ask the guest to give him a smile. The last word in the song is 'thank you,' and that's how it ends…"

"That's a happy ending. What do you think the ending actually means, Chichi-ue?"

"I think in the end the main character... I think he dies. The guest stayed, and the speaker thanks him for… staying until then."

"He _dies_…? So did Gramps think that he was-?"

Taishō nods slowly.

"Chichi-ue, what are you going to do when-"

"I don't know. Cry."

"I…I'd…. cry for you, Chichi-ue."

Taishō's surprised by that statement, not that he doesn't believe it, but it's strange that his boy would say such a thing.

"Would you, if I-"

"Don't say it."

"Chichi-ue… I-"

Taishō hugs him tighter, "Just, don't say that. I don't even want to think about it. Just don't say it."

"Alright, Chichi-ue, I won't. I'm sorry I upset you," Sesshōmaru looks up at him and his father down to him. Sesshōmaru gives him a kiss, "Shichusaa."

Taishō smiles and squeezes Sesshōmaru, "That's **so adorable**!" _I tricked him into saying 'I love you!'  
_"I love you, too, puppy!"

"It means _whaaa-aaaaattt_?" Sesshōmaru turns cherry red.

~~A year later~~

Sesshōmaru is nine.

He walks alongside his father whose in full armor and fur. Sesshōmaru carries a bag of… mushrooms. Sesshōmaru happily pops them into his mouth. Taishō looks down at him smiling, then Sesshōmaru offers him some.

"Uh…? *sweatdrop* No. No, thank you. I'm fine."

"…Okay."

_Smoked poison mushrooms, mixed with sauce that Sesshomaru kept telling the servant to add more mustard and spice in. It's kinda... disturbing._

They come across a nice tree, and Taisho sits at the base. Sesshōmaru hops onto his lap facing his father- *Smile*

Taishō looks at him for a moment, smiling too, then tickles Sesshōmaru's sides!

"Heeheeheeheehee, Chichi-ue – quit it!"

But Taishō instead raises his knees so Sesshōmaru's back is pressed to his legs while he squirms.

"Stop-!"

Taishō nuzzles the left side of Sesshōmaru's face- *kiss, kiss, kiss*  
he stops tickling his son.

Sesshōmaru blushes and smiles as his father switches to the right side, "Chichi-ue…"

Another kiss on the forehead, although Taishō's hands remain close to Sesshōmaru's sides, but Sesshōmaru grips his father's hands with his own, so his father grips them back as he buries his muzzles into the top of Sesshōmaru's head.

*laughs* "Chichi-ue!" Sesshōmaru gives his father a kiss too through giggles.

He stops.

"Chi-?" but before he can finish his father puts an arm around him and the other on the back of his head bringing him close. Taishō stands. He runs.

"Chichi-ue… what's wrong?"

No answer.

"Chichi-ue…?"

Taishō runs until he reaches a steep ravine; at the bottom a rough river full of jagged rocks. Taishō takes a few steps back, and leaps across it.

He only takes a few more steps, "Tch!" he sets Sesshōmaru down, "Stay very close to me."  
_They're everywhere. They're going to follow wherever it is that I may try to run. I might as well-  
_"Show yourselves now!"

Sesshōmaru hides under his father's fur- _He'd want to make sure that they don't find out about me._

Demons, some human-like, some large, emerge. Before one could even open his mouth they begin to be slaughtered by his claws, and another, and another, and another…

"You're not wasting any time, are you?" says a demon who manages to dodge his claws.

*K-Krak Kra-Ak*

"Why don't you come and get me, General?"

Taishō is still in the same spot as when the demons first arrived. Without a word from his father Sesshōmaru understands. Taishō feels Sesshōmaru crawl up his back until he reaches the top of his cuirass. Sesshōmaru wraps an arm around his sword and grips the top of his father's cuirass with the other, pressing himself close, then shutting his eyes tight.

"Well?—Ge-egh!" *Shlurk!*

Taishō lands as the other dies, and so he turns around and continues to slash at the rest. One of the demons tackles the General from the side, so hard that Sesshōmaru loses his grip and falls more than a yard away, luckily everyone's too busy attacking his father to have noticed him. He's too little.

Taishō pauses in shock for a moment eying Sesshōmaru- _I don't think they noticed…_

*Grah!* He cuts at them.

Sesshōmaru gets up and begins to crawl away.

*Grrr*

Sesshōmaru looks up – someone saw him, and is looking down at him with a big fanged-filled grin. Sesshōmaru goes blank, raises his arms above his head with both palms facing the demon and dissolved it before it could make a sound.

Sesshōmaru stares at the corpse, and continues to crawl toward a bush. He turns back for a moment. There's so many, but he's winning. Taishō's running away from Sesshōmaru – he's making sure that they don't attack him.

Sesshōmaru keeps crawling.

"Come on, General! Is this all you have? Where's the almighty powerful demon lord I've heard so much about?"

Sesshōmaru stops.

"Honestly! Are you holding back?"

Sesshōmaru turns around.

"You're not as great as I thought!"

Taishō keeps attacking, but then hears a yelp, so turns around.

It's the one who was throwing insults – Sesshōmaru hangs from his left arm with his fangs and claws sunken into that demon's arm.

_No!...Sesshōmaru—_

"Let go of me, you brat!" he swings his arm furiously attempting to shake him off, but he doesn't let go.

Taishō tries to go over there but demons block him- *Slash* *Shlurk*

That demon begins to punch Sesshōmaru, but he just closes his eyes and takes it, "Let go of me!"

_Sesshōmaru!_- "**Get away!**"

*SLA-ASH*

That demon grabs the roots of Sesshōmaru's hair trying to rip him off.  
"Aagh!"  
A green and purple spray shoots from the punctures of Sesshōmaru's claws and fangs. That demon chucks Sesshōmaru to the ground.

Sesshōmaru coughs.

That demon grabs his arm but pulls it away immediately and stares at his reddened sizzling palm. His arm – where Sesshōmaru's claws were – it's melting…  
Where his fangs were – that flesh is practically gone to the bone – bubbling and emitting toxic fumes.

"You, you, you freakin' piece of-!"

Sesshōmaru glares at him with his beaten, reddened face, baring his bloody fangs making a sound that's a cross between a hiss and a growl. Some acid runs down his chin, dripping to the grass making it burn away.

That demon brings down his sword but gets tackled far by Taishō who kills him as soon as they hit the ground.

"That's your kid ain't it?"

Taishō turns around to see a wall of demons – where's Sesshōmaru? He begins to claw through them like mad until he sees him.

Sesshōmaru backs away toward the edge of the ravine, the demon throws a spear – it hits – it goes throw his body – it pushes him over.

Taishō's eyes widen in absolute horror screaming, _**"Sesshōmaruuu!"**_

Demons pile onto his limbs so that he can't reach him – so that he can watch.

He sees Sesshōmaru's eyes wide, his hand reaching out to him as he falls.

Taishō could swear that he heard a crack. He drops to his knees.  
As he gasps for breath, the demons around him comment about how his son is dead.

"My puppy… my… my, my child..!" he snaps.  
And lunges until he's free, then placing his hand on that evil sword's hilt.  
_I didn't want to use this because of the possibility of it hurting him, with its blade or evil, but- _"But – You Damn Sons-a-!" he draws, "Sō'unga!"

*_GYAAA-AAH!_*

Taishō turns to his right, to his left, but the one he looks for…

Taishō kicks the demon, keeping his foot on its gut, "How dare you!"  
He holds the tip of Sō'unga above that demon's neck, "You. You!"  
His eyes are getting red, but not from demonic energy, "Agh!"  
He brings the sword down leaving it there as he rushes to the ravine's edge.

What does that sword matter? It can stay there!

Taishō looks down. All he sees is water and rocks… and something white…

He leaps down and sees Sesshōmaru's little body on a rock, bloody – he's not moving.

Taishō lands on that rock and carefully cradles Sesshōmaru in his arms, choking back a sob.  
He can feel that some of Sesshōmaru's bones are broken.  
He's bleeding so much...  
From his head, his face, his mouth, his body...  
It, it doesn't seem like he's breathing…

Taishō sobs gritting his teeth, "Sesshōmaru… agh! I'm sorry… *sob*… I'm sorry…."  
He opens his eyes trying to not let the tears poised in them fall.

"Chi…"

He looks down to Sesshōmaru's slumped over body, and gently tilts his boy's head back.  
Sesshōmaru's blackened eyes are barely open, if at all, with his blood-covered mouth mutters "Chi… chi-ue."  
His eyes flutter as he tries to look at his father, which his vaguely does, "...I'm so… sorry…" his eyes damp, "Please can… you… smile… for me…?"

The tears fall from Taishō's eyes, "Yes."  
Taishō smiles.

Sesshōmaru closes his eyes, "Good…"

Taishō brought him home and stayed with him until every scratch and bruise went away. He didn't leave his side a single time, not once, not even for a second.

* * *

つ づ く...


	10. 10th Chapter

Sesshōmaru Ante Iam **Part 1: Early Years**- Chapter 10

* * *

A year later. Sesshōmaru's ten.

Sesshōmaru's continued his 'Japanese Lessons' with Yume. She herself now knows her hiragana and katakana. Sesshōmaru now teaches her kanji that he knows and is learning. Anything that Sesshōmaru learns about fighting he uses on her. They play, and even pull tricks and pranks together – a rather evil little duo they are, but that's for another time. Their little sign language has developed; they've even invented secret codes.

Sesshōmaru is at the 'spot' with Yume.

"Yume."

"Yeah, Sess-chan?"

Yes, she hasn't stopped calling him that.

They both lie under the Bo tree.

"We need a secret handshake."

They sit up.

"Why?"

"My family has told me about demons that can disguise themselves, so I'd like to make sure that it's you when we meet up. I've seen how demons who are after my father try to use me."

"Oh, like the time you fell off of that cliff?"

Sesshōmaru stays quiet for a moment- _He, Chichi-ue… was crying… I don't ever want to see that again…  
_"Yes. Like that."

"Okay! So what's gonna be are super-secret-awesome handshake?"

They spend the rest of their afternoon working on it.

* * *

*Cliff thing was last year= last chapter (9)

* * *

~~Days Later~~

Sesshōmaru walks along the outer walkway surrounding the house. Things are peaceful, then – yelling?

_Mother…?_

He walks to the door but stays at the side of it. He can't really make it out, but it's her. His father is speaking too, but not like her.

_Are they fighting?_

"Calm down. Sesshōmaru is home. He doesn't-"

"Ha! And how am I supposed to simply calm down?"

Sesshōmaru flinches as he hears something shatter, and then the door slides back. His father steps out still looking inside, "Please, just **stop**."

But the yelling continues.

Sesshōmaru hasn't been noticed yet, but suddenly he sees his mother rush out and slap his father. As Taishō head tilts to the side his heart seems to skip a beat – he saw him.  
_How long was he there?_

Taishō turns to her, "If you won't stop this behavior, then it'll be better if I leave."

"Fine!" she points to Sesshōmaru, "Take him if you want!"

"I wouldn't have it any other way," he picks Sesshōmaru up and leaves with him.

Sesshōmaru says softly, "Chi…chi-ue…" and closes his eyes.

~~About Three Days Later~~

"Chichi-ue, are we going back? Weren't we kicked out?"

"Nnn… technically… yes."

"Then why are we going back? Isn't she still mad?"

Well that was a quick change of heart.

"Your mother just needed some time to cool off."

When they arrive, the place is strangely empty, and there's a note attached to the entrance.

Sesshōmaru tries to read it but it's so full of kanji that he just can't.

Without a word Taishō turns around.

"Chichi-ue, what did it say?"

He doesn't answer. He walks.

Sesshōmaru stares on worriedly, "Chichi-ue…?"

They're no longer at the estate and Taishō still hasn't spoken.

Sesshōmaru walks directly behind him, "Chichi-ue, can you say something?"

No answer.

"Can you look at me, Chichi-ue?"

Nothing.

Sesshōmaru stops walking but Taishō continues.

_Why is he acting like that? What happened? Chichi-ue… he looks so down._  
He remembers seeing his father cry last year.  
_Was it me this time? No! That's too narrow-minded!  
Nnnn… what now? No matter what I say he doesn't answer. Nothing I'm doing makes it any better!  
Seeing Father be happy… that made me happy! I can't stand to see him like this!  
_He bites his lower lip. His fists close.  
_Damn – I feel bad… I can't imagine how badly Father must feel. I… I don't want to lose him! I don't want him to forget about me.  
Damn it! I'm useless! Please, someone help-!  
_Sesshōmaru suddenly opens his eyes.  
_What am I doing?  
_He blinks a few times.  
_This fear… this vanity… how dare I allow myself to be weak enough to feel that!  
__I__ need help? That's not going to be any use for Father – it'll be more of a burden – more of a setback!  
_Sesshōmaru stars running after his father.  
_I __am__ useless if I do nothing! If I just waste my time dwelling in such thoughts, then, then what's the point?- nothing.  
_Sesshōmaru catches up, "Father, stop it!"

Taishō looks down at him shocked.

"Look, I know you're upset, I do, but you can't just be like, like **this**! Moping isn't helping anything! Chichi-ue, I'm still here with you, and, and I'll try **anything** to make you smile again! If, if you stay like this… then I'll get upset too, then that'll make you feel even worse. You'll feel like you did something wrong as a father. And, and even… even if you stay like **this**, and all of my attempts to make you happy again fail… I'll keep trying anyway because… that's what I'm here for, Chichi-ue. That's my reason to exist – to make you smile. You, you need to have a reason too, or you'll just be alive, and that's not much use.  
"Chichi-ue… either cheer up and we can do something or, or… keep moping around like a weakling! Either way… I'll, I'll still follow you."

Sesshōmaru looks right into his father's eyes, "Which one, Chichi-ue?"

"…Se-Sesshōmaru…"

Sesshōmaru suddenly bows very deeply, "I am extremely sorry! Forgive me, Chichi-ue! It… it wasn't my place to judge your actions! My words… were _far too bold_ and **disrespectful**! I, I beg for your forgiveness!"

"Sesshōmaru… aren't you a good boy?"

Sesshōmaru looks up at him.  
_He's… he's smiling!_

"Come on, let's go."

Sesshōmaru smiles with wide sparkling eyes, blushing, "Yes, Chichi-ue! Of course!" he lets out a small laugh, "I'll follow you _wherever_ you may go!"

Taishō looks down at him-_ My, my… where did he come up with that?_

* * *

**Fear not, after these two sad chapters, the next one shall be much more happy and gleeful!  
***What Sesshōmaru's parent's argument was about? I don't know. I didn't feel like (or come up with) making up some reason that I wasn't even remotely certain was true – something that Rumiko didn't confirm. All I know is that Sesshōmaru's mother wasn't a big part of his life, judging from the indifference that Sesshōmaru showed her when she appeared [Ch. 466 pg. 15/The Final Act Ep. 9] The guy never **once** addressed her as "Mother" or any other variation, he didn't even _introduce _her as his mother, she introduced herself.

* * *

つ づ く...

_Ch. 11- Early Blooming_


	11. Early Blooming

Sesshōmaru Ante Iam **Part 1: Early Years**- Chapter 11~Early Blooming

* * *

I'ld like to make note, Sesshōmaru's friend's name is not Yum-I, it is Yum-E.

And also, I was checking the traffic for this story. For some reason, chapter 10 has quite a number more hits than chapter 5-9, something of which I consider quite – _fascinating... _

• ^^within these= flashback^^ • "-san"= most common honorific, equivalent to Mr., Miss, Ms., Mrs.; all purpose honorific and can be used in any situation where politeness is required

* * *

Yume and Sesshōmaru are laying down under the Bo tree.

"Sess-chan?"

"What?"

"Has your dad ever spanked you?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Oh, it's 'cuz, well, he seems to dote on you- _a lot_. I wasn't sure if he punished you, like, since, all the stuff we do… and stuff."

"Chichi-ue's a kind and loving man, but… he doesn't **not** punish me. And I'm sort of beginning to run out of ways to not get punished – he's figuring me out."

"So… when was the first time he spanked you?"

"When I was… I think 7 or 8."

"Whaddya do?"

"I think it was for the first big thing we did and got caught."

"Oh…"

^^ "He did what! You can't be serious!"

Taishō rushed out following a messenger, and what he saw, what he saw was his child and his little friend side by side with smoke covered faces.

Some servants frantically threw water at the tree and corner of a building that were lit on fire. Scattered about were shreds of colorful wrappers, little rope wicks, singed grass, black powder...

They were messing around with gunpowder.

(In the memories of demons, a fairly newer invention, gunpowder was discovered by the Chinese in the 9th century – oh, yes, I forgot to mention didn't I? Here, for this fanfic, it's currently the 12th century or the 1100s. Specifically it's the late Heian era, well, at least in human history.)

They were making their own little "fire crackers" a few popped, causing amusement and urging them to make more and after a few rounds of those, well, things got out of hand. They tried to put it out themselves but there was only so much they could do.

"Uh…. Hi?"

Sesshōmaru and Yume looked on nervously at Taishō.

Taishō tried to compose himself and asked Sesshōmaru to come with him.

They walked out to the forest and eventually came across a tree stump.

Taishō looked at Sesshōmaru, grabbed his little shoulders, and said, "Sesshōmaru… I, I'm sorry for what I'm about to do, but… you had this coming."

"Nh?" he tilted his head to the side not understanding, and lifted a brow.

Taishō grabbed Sesshōmaru and set him belly down over his knee. As Sesshōmaru's head and arms hung, he asked genuinely confused, "Father… wh-what are you doing?"

One of Taishō's hands gripped Sesshōmaru by the scruff.

"…Father…?"

Sesshōmaru couldn't see this, but Taishō raised his free hand to eye level.

Sesshōmaru gasped and turned pale upon finally realizing what was about to happen, "Father! I, I, I – this, this isn't necessary!" he started to flail his arms and legs, and tried to look back to see, "Really! I'm - it was an accident! I, I'm really sorry – Father? Father! Don't-!"

And the hand came down. Sesshōmaru's limbs straightened out and his eyes widened but winced as well- "Ah! – Ah! – Ah! – Ah!"

Only four, and with that Taishō set Sesshōmaru down onto his feet, "I'm sorry, but you really did deserve that."

Sesshōmaru stood with his back beyond pin straight, big moistening eyes, his hands behind him, lips sucked in tight. He nodded slowly.

Taishō knelt down, "Let me see, come here."

Sesshōmaru ran to him and hugged him around the neck.

Taishō was a bit surprised but accepted the hug anyway, "Don't do those kinds of things again, puppy, okay?"

He expected an answer but all he got, well he more felt it, was Sesshōmaru's nod.^^

"Huh."

"What do you mean, 'huh'?"

"Oh nothing, it's just… that was interesting."

"Shut up."

"You shut up."

"Screw you!"

"Screw **you**!"

Sesshōmaru sits up and hits Yume on the forehead.

"Heeey!" She sits up and she pushes him, so he pushes her back, so she pushes him again, then he pushes her again, then Yume pushes Sesshōmaru and when she does- *bzzzt!*

Sesshōmaru jumps to his feet, rubbing his left arm, "What the hell was that?"

Yume looks at her hands for a second and an evil little gleam shines in her eyes, her mouth pulls up at the corners.

"Yu…me?"

Yume stands up and pokes Sesshōmaru's hand- *Bzzt!*

Sesshōmaru wrings his hand, "The hell? Yume, what are you-?"

She pokes him again- *Bzzt!*

"Ah! Yume! Stop that! Seriously what the hell are you doing?"

She giggles as she pokes him again- *Bzzt!*

"Awh! Dammit Yume, quit i- t!" *Bzzt!*

"That's _not_ funny!"

"Yes it is."

*Bzzt!*

Sesshōmaru runs behind the tree, so Yume chases him while pointing at him.

"No! Yume, no!"

They run around the tree in circles as Yume tries to poke Sesshōmaru.

"**Quit it!**"

She laughs, and then she gets really close…

*_BZZT!_*  
"Aawh! _**Yuu-Meeeeh! Stop that damn zapping thing already!**_"

He runs and runs and runs around the tree, turns this way and that, clockwise and counterclockwise, trying to escape that damn zapping thing, and all the while Yume laughs with mischief.

Good times, good times.

~~Weeks later~~

After what happened with Sesshōmaru's mother, Taishō had a home made for him and Sesshōmaru. It's not a mansion, but it is more the size of 6-8 of an average villagers hut.

As soon as Sesshōmaru got the chance he curled himself up against his father as he slept even though a futon had been set up for him. And he kept doing this, until Taishō simply got a bigger futon, added another pillow and let Sesshōmaru sleep right next to him. Sesshōmaru never was a good sleeper, always fidgeting, tossing and turning in bed, waking up multiple times in the night, but he found that he did so much less when he curled up with his father. Maybe it was because he felt safe with him, that there was no need for him to be alert about anything, knowing that his father's experienced and reliable senses, his power, would make sure that he was protected. Maybe that was it, maybe he just told himself that because he just wanted to be closer to him, closer to the father that he loved beyond dearly, or maybe it was a bit of both.

Either way, tonight he was sleeping again by his father. They have their backs to each other, a rare occurrence (one of them must have turned in his sleep). Everything is quiet.

…*gasp*

"Nn…. Sesshōmaru… what's wrong?"

Sesshōmaru sits up blushing, "I… I think… I think I, I wet the bed…"

"Oh, well… it happens… don't be too embarra—*yawn* –assed…" Taishō sits up, eyes still closed, "You're still a child and…"

"Well that's odd."

"Wha-awwh..?"

"It doesn't… smell like pee."

"What do you-"

"It doesn't really feel like pee either… it's like, um… sticky…"

"How can tha?—at…" he opens his eyes, "Oh…." _  
No. It, it can't be __that__. He's still too, he's too little to, but then…_

He turns to Sesshōmaru whose staring at the sheets. Taishō picks him up under the arms and walks with him arms stretched out.

"Where are we going?"

"To the bath. You need to get cleaned up."

Sesshōmaru's sitting in the bathtub while his father stands by him outside facing away. "Clean yourself up well."

"Uuh-huh."

_How could he—aleady? But, but how?_

When Sesshōmaru's finished Taishō helped him out and wrapped him a towel from shoulders down burrito style, and then carried him to the house.

Taishō sits down outside the bedroom door on the veranda with Sesshōmaru sitting on his lap.

_It's too… I, I didn't think that I would have to talk to him already about this – I __**intended to begin planning **__how to explain this to him __this year__, not now…_

"Chichi-ue?"

"Eh… uh, Sesshōmaru, um, do you understand how, eh… how..?"

"Is this about my accident tonight?"

"…Yes! Yes it is. Well, ugh, your, your body'sssss….. changing."

Sesshōmaru looks up at him, "Wait, what?"

"Yes, your body… is going from a boy to a young man…" he adds in his thoughts- _already…  
_Taishō pauses.

"Wait, so… so does that mean my body is going to look like yours, Chichi-ue?"

(They've bathed together before. Sesshōmaru has a _very good_ example of what a **MAN**'s body is.)

"Uh… well, yes? Um, that depends, if, if you take care of yourself…. Probably? Actually likely…. I think."  
Taishō grasp Sesshōmaru's shoulders, "Your, your shoulders are going to get broader, uh, you'll likely develop more muscle, and, and your voice is going to change, as in get deeper, and uh….um, tonight's, eh….your right that it wasn't pee, but, it, it…."

"So what was it?"

"It, it involves how one makes another pup."

"Oh. Hey… when are you going to tell me the exact details about that anyway? I know it involves a man and woman, and then both get nake-y, and like, they do some fancy super-secret 'hug' after that…"

"**Nake-y!** Who, who told you that?"

"Sora-san."

"Yume's brother?"

"Yes sir, him."

"Did he tell you about that hug thing too?"

"No. That was my uncle."

"He…! Did he give you details?"

"No. That's why I'm asking you, Chichi-ue."

"Well, um… that, that that happened tonight, that is what…. the man contributes to the process of making a pup. It's, it's, it's…. his….. his _seed_…?"

"So we're made like plants? Is the lady the flower pot?"

"Yes! She is. They are the soil where the seed is planted into, and where it grows, like, you know, when they're pregnant. And, and tonight, that was an accidental pre-release of your seed that your growing body can now make."  
_You know that actually came out sounding pretty good._

"So…. I'm now capable of fathering my own children?"

"Eh… technically, I guess so."

Sesshōmaru stays quiet for awhile, and looks down as he takes all of this information in. He eventually looks up again.

Sesshōmaru locks eyes with his father, and with a complete total calmness in both his face and voice, asks, "So how many grandchildren do you want Father?"

Taishō: Eyes split. Jaw breaks. Hair stands. Twitch. Choke.

* * *

つ づ く...

_Ch. 12- All Together Now_


	12. All Together Now

Sesshōmaru Ante Iam **Part 1: Early Years**- Chapter 12~All Together Now

* * *

• "-nii"= Big brother, i.e. Onii-chan, Nii-sama, Name-nii, etc  
• You know I'm descriptive with OCs. Reference Ch. 6 to refresh memory if needed. By the way, to me Taishō's looks exactly like in the 3rd movie, for that matter, Rumiko herself designed him that way.

* * *

~~A Month Later~~

It's autumn: the leaves are yellow, red, and orange.

Taishō hasn't yet explained the exact details of how the _"seed" _gets **into **the woman.

Sesshōmaru is 11 today.

He's playing in a large pile of leaves making them all crunch, then he sees his father coming, "Ah, Chichi-ue!" and falls into the big pile- "Oomph!"

Taishō gets him out of there.

"Heh heh [blows away a leaf on head] I guess that was a little careless of me."

Taishō hugs and kisses Sesshōmaru, "I have a present for you puppy!"

Smiling and blushing, "Really?"

A moment later Sesshōmaru appears from behind a tree trunk. He's wearing new clothes: a white kimono with large red floral patters at the left shoulder, collar, and sleeves; fur on his right shoulder. Armor consisting of a black cuirass that's gray at the top with curved ends, red tassels inside of that and closer to the center two spikes; a thin spiked gray cauldron; four tassets; all tied by a blue sash with two bands of yellow at the tips; and ankle-high, black boots.

"Well Chichi-ue, how do I look?" Sesshōmaru says while twirling around to show everything off.

"You look… _**adorable**_!"

"I, I, I look – adorable? I, I, I'm a man now!"

Taishō doesn't answer, only smiles.

Sesshōmaru pouts and blushes, "Chichi-ue… thank you so very much."

"Come on, Sesshōmaru," he stands and Sesshōmaru follows. He grabs Sesshōmaru and sits him on his arm.

"Where are we going?"

"We're going to visit Granma and Granpa today at _The_ Estate."

"Are Akiyo and Oba-chan going to be there?"

"Hmm… we'll see."

Unlike the estate of Sesshōmaru's mother, the estate of his father – which is actually considered the family estate – is on soil, located in the mountains in central Japan.

They arrive at the broad and shallow stone stairs that lead up to the large red torii gate – the entrance to the _The_Estate with its dark tiled roof. No walls connect the sides of the gate, not even any doors in between, just a two foot high/61 cm red decorative fence at its sides. Completely intertwined around the fence and gate, fine green vines with small trumpet-shaped blue flowers. No guards in sight either. The 'welcoming' building and courtyard in front are plainly visible and seemingly defenseless, open to anyone, well, except Granpa Mikazuki is sitting there. He had caught their scent earlier.

"Haisai."  
(casual 'hello')

Granpa gets up with the help of his staff. He's in the previously mentioned outfit, with white tabi and black Chinese "v-neck" slippers, and this time the purple kimono is tied by a long golden sash and draped over his shoulders a red haori. He wears full black gloves with gold tips on the middle finger.  
"Why'd you come here?"

"I just wanted to visit you and Anmaa."  
('Mother')

"You're still as rude as ever, huh you old geezer?"

"What? I see you're still a smart-alecky little brat, you shrimp!"

"Bite me!"

"Enough!" _I think the theory's right, the temper in this family skips a generation…_

"Sesshōmaru! Hiroshi! You've come to visit!" It's grandma also dressed in what was previously mentioned but over that she's wearing a light blue kimono with fancy bird patterns on it. She has on white tabi. Grandma's quite short especially compared to her son and husband (6'3''/190.5 cm and 6'½''/184.3 cm respectively), she's stands at 5'1''/155 cm—actually she's 4'10''/147 cm but with her three inch lavender lacquered wood zōri with red straps, she looks a bit taller.

Taishō puts Sesshōmaru down, and mom hugs him. She then hugs Sesshōmaru tightly, "Oooh! I missed you! My, how you've grown! You even wear armor now!"

"Too - tight! Can't breathe! Ribs- cracking!"

She lets go of him leaving Sesshōmaru breathing heavily- _I thought I was going to black out!_

"Sesshōmaru, are you going to be alright?"

"Yeah… I'll be fine. I just need a moment."

Grandma, "Come on, let's go inside," she picks Sesshōmaru up and goes inside.

"Has Aki-nii been around?" asks Taishō to Grandpa.

"Unh? Oh yeah… he said he'd be back by tomorrow."

Granma enters the room still holding Sesshōmaru, "Miji, look whose here!"

"Mi'rin-Oba-chan! Hi."

It's the lady with white hair dressed in red from chapter 5. She's sitting at a table, a paper in front of her and charcoal. A male servant kneels at the side of the table, and blushes a bit, "Will, will that be all Mijirin-sama?"

"Yeah, thanks. You can go now."

"Y-yes, ma'am. My pleasure," he leaves.

Grandma puts Sesshōmaru down. He goes over to Aunt Mijirin.

"Setchan."

She's… really pretty…  
She has the same green marks as Grandma, but also has red lines on her upper eyelids. Her eyes are a bright ivy-green. Her face has long yet delicate features. Her white hair curls: her bangs curl, and one set of sidelocks curls into her face just under her chin, the next set of sidelocks curl in but then curl out at her rather 'nice' chest. The rest of her hair flows down behind her shoulders to mid-back, curling at the ends.  
She's dressed… interestingly. A red kimono with red six-petal flowers within pink hexagons grouped in threes at the left shoulder, collar, ends of her sleeves and bottom corner of her kimono. Her right sleeve is detached, tied on with a pink ribbon above her elbow and with a more of a pointed end with a pink bow. Her sash is wrapped around her waist multiple times; a pattern of three white bands and two black. The knot's at her left, one end small while the other very long. Mesh on her legs: right one stops at her ankle while the left stops mid-shin. She has a thick silver bracelet with four turquoises in them worn on her right wrist and left ankle. A green scarf around her neck tied in a bow which has blue river patterns on it as do the ends which hang down to her waist.

Taishō enters.

"Roshi-nii!"

"Miji, so you are here. Good."

Grandpa also enters, "Alrighty then, everyone's said their hellos, so now let's get to relaxing."

Sesshōmaru jumps on his aunt and hugs her, "Mi'rin-Oba-chan, guess what?"

"What?"

"I can have puppies now!"

Everyone's eyes widen.

Grandpa jabs Taishō with his elbow, "Child, what the hell did that mean?"

"Uh… hehehehehe – he, um…" he turns his head away, "Sesshōmaru blossomed early…"

"Wait, what?"

"In the hell?"

"Seriously?"

Sesshōmaru bounces on his auntie's lap, "Yup, since last month. I can make _'seeds'_."

"I, I can explain…!" *nervous laugh*

~~Next day, mid-morning~~

"Akiyo!" Sesshōmaru runs over and hugs him, he then gets picked up.

Auntie puts her hands on her hips, "Hey Setchan, it's rude to call Aki-nii just 'Akiyo' – he's your uncle!"

Akiyo responds, "Oh, he's not being rude."

Sesshōmaru looks at him, "Yeah, I'm just being… _extremely_ casual, right Akiyo?"

"Right." Akiyo takes a good look at Sesshōmaru, "Oh ho, I see my little brother lets you wear armor now."

"He gave it to me for my birthday yesterday."

Grandma claps her hands together, "That's right! wait… Roshi, don't you always mix up the day when you first _met _Sesshōmaru with the day he was actually **born**?"

"Eh… well… I guess so, but I didn't really pay attention to how many days old his mother told me he was when I held him that first time."

Grandpa pats his back, "Well, close enough. Since Aki's here at last, this calls for a party."

"Hiroshi, how old is he now?" asks Akiyo.

"Eleven."

Grandpa whistles.

*Servant* (yeah, that's right, they get there own sound effect, that's how awesome they are)

"Bring out saké for the boy."

"Otō-sama, he's too little!"

"What? That's how old all of you were when you snuck in your first taste."

Silence.

"That's what I thought. Ey, make it the weak stuff."

"Ojii, can it be sweet?"

"Sure it can," he looks at the servant, winks, snaps, "Go."

The servant disappears.

Grandma asks Taishō if Sesshōmaru's 'ready' for 'that' yet.

Sesshōmaru looks questioningly at them.

"Eh… yes, I think he is."

Grandpa whistles.

*Servant*

"Prepare the Akagekkōki no Hana no Sake." (Saké of the Flowers of the Red Moonlight Tree)

"Yes, sir! Do I still bring the sweet weak saké?"

"Sure, why not?"

"Chichi-ue, what's going on?"

Taishō smiles, "Sesshōmaru, puppy, you're being considered to go through the family initiation ritual."

"The initiation ritual? What's that?"

They go back inside and Akiyo comments that "It's when you have officially earned the family name."

They sit and Grandpa begins to explain, "Sesshōmaru, I'm sure you've seen children, hell even grown ass adults, who are respected _despite _their spoiled rotten, shallow, egotistical attitudes, **only** because of their family name. Now, tell me child, why is that?"

Sesshōmaru thinks, "It's because one their ancestors was great, powerful and/or skilled…?"

"Exactly. Now tell me this, why the hell should those punk ass suckers be respected for something _someone else_ did? Especially if that sucker is a *bleepin* good-for-nothin', lazy *bleeper* who can't live without their servants to do all the s#*% that there *bleepy* asses wouldn't do for them, and cry over some *bleepbleep* stain?"

"I guess that kind of person really doesn't deserve it!"

Grandpa smirks, "You see, that's where our family is different, and why it's badass-er. You have to **earn** our family name. You can't just be walking around with the Akagekkōki brand like you've done something with you life. Your granny and I, we came from the southeast Ryukyu Islands, specifically Uchina, the Okinawas. When we came here we weren't considered Japanese, could barely speak it. Them naijin thought of us as inferior foreign trash. We earned this nobility, this estate, those sons-of-a-bitches respect. Totally humiliated those bastards – shut them up! And now look-ee-here, we're one the most respected, feared, and richest of clans!  
"They said an uneducated, supposedly unrefined southern 'rogue' could never beat their pompous warriors – took 30 of them out like that, individually beating the s#*% out of each one, they barely touched me. Likewise Granny could kick their asses very well too, and our clothes are some of the awesome-ist ever. Your father, he's _the_ Great Dog General – there we go. Demons piss themselves! Your uncle's the current head of the clan – there we go. You need power and balls for that. Your auntie, fast and kick-your-ass," he looks at her, "but you still need to work on that pacing."

She nods.

"Quite the artist too. See, all of my progeny kickass, literally and metaphorically. Now, your father feels that you're ready because of some skill, wisdom, insight, or something like that. At that, I have a good feeling that you'll be great in some form, that you'll be respected for being 'Sesshōmaru' and not for being 'Inu no Taishō's son' – hopefully at least. Do you understand?"

"… Yes, I do."

"...Good," he whistles again.

*Servant*

"Take him somewhere else for awhile."

"Why?"

Taishō reassures him, so Sesshōmaru leaves with the servant.

Taishō, Grandpa, Grandma, Akiyo and Auntie settle themselves and form a circle. Akiyo begins, "So Hiroshi, why do you think Sesshōmaru's ready after these 11 years?"

Taishō explains about what happened between him and Sesshōmaru's mother, and what Sesshōmaru said afterward.

Grandpa, "Those are some words for one so little. He's extremely devoted to you, child."

Auntie, "Has he said anything like that before?"

"Uh… *thinks* I think one other time…"

^^ Sesshōmaru was nine and sitting on his father's lap on a hill. Taishō had his arms around him, "Sesshōmaru, would you like to be a big brother some day?"

"Is Mother pregnant?"

"What? No. I'm just… curious."

"Do you ask because you have a big brother? And are one too?"

"Maybe. So yes or no?"

"Hmmm… sure."

"Why?"

"I wouldn't mind having a sibling to order around and do my bidding."

"Like a servant?"

"Yup."

"Would you like a brother or sister?"

"A little brother…"

"Why?"

"So I can torture him."

"But wouldn't you also love him?"

"Hnn… I guess, I mean the reason for a big brother being born first is to protect his little brothers and sisters, right?"

Taishō looks on stunned, "Did you… hear that somewhere?"

"No. Why?" ^^

"Does that count?" asks Taishō.

Grandpa, "Huh."

"So… what do you say?"

~~After sunset~~

Everyone's dressed very fancy, more than just usual noble kimonos and such, very awesome attire, if the author could draw anime characters then it would gladly be linked, and alas, it'd be too long and difficult to describe the clothes, but still – moving on.

Grandpa tells Sesshōmaru, "You're daddy's gonna be the one to initiate you."

Taishō takes his place, "Sesshōmaru, you're going to have to drink this," he hands Sesshōmaru a cup of clear saké that shimmers red and has black specks in it.

"That's all?"

"Yes, but drink it quickly, like as though…. as though… *sigh* I'm quoting Grandpa okay?" he inhales and says quickly, " 'as though you'd just beaten the crap out of an emperor's guards because they called you a… *bleep*… and then you told the emperor to piss off and eat… *bleep*, then told his wife to… suck it, and spit at him….'  
" 'After all that you went to a tavern and drank saké because you were still pissed off...' "

"Wow, this has meaning huh?"

Taishō continues, " 'Immediately after you drink it, without actually tasting the saké, you throw the cup over your shoulder without looking or caring – as if to say "*Bleep* the world!" ' "

Sesshōmaru blinks.

"Then you savor the saké."

"Huh..? Do I.. drink it again?"

"No," he whispers the explanation. It's like when one drinks soda or a shot really fast, and then goes "Sst…! aah…" afterwards.

Sesshōmaru does just that- *Shatter* "Sst…! Aah…"

"Banzai!" says everyone else.

"More saké!"

~~Mid-afternoon the following day~~

Everyone slept in late and then took a bath to 'recover' from last night. Everyone's back in their usual clothes.

Sesshōmaru goes outside and looks up a big dark barked tree with bright red leaves. His uncle lies on a branch. He wears dark red hakama; black long-sleeved Chinese shirt that buttons on the right with yellow edges; sleeves ending in a double cuff fashion showing the yellow underside. Black Chinese slippers that cover the tops of his feet; no tabi. A dark blue mozzetta over his shoulders that reaches to mid-forearm and has a short mandarin collar; white fur edges at the bottom; and a decorative light blue double bow at the right side; it's fastened below the collar by a strap, which attaches to a decorative gold pin on the left.  
He has the same forehead mark as Grandma; pine-green marks except they're broad vertical lines that begin from his lower eyelid and continue until his jawline; a red line on his upper eyelid. Akiyo has white hair in a short braid that reaches mid-shoulder blade; straight cut parted bangs and a lock of hair in the center of his right bang that reaches to mid-cheek. He looks about 39 (Taishō and Auntie look to be about 34-36).

"Akiyo! Are you awake?"

He opens his golden colored eyes and sits up, "Do you want something?"

"I have a question."

Akiyo jumps off the tree limb landing in a kneeling position in front of Sesshōmaru, "What?"

"Why are there so few Akagekkōki?" (Red Moonlight Tree)

"Those trees only grow on soil where a star has fallen. The more star-dust in the soil, the more trees."

"There's only seven on this estate, do you know if there are others?"

"I've seen six or eight others."

"And our family shares the same name as the tree."

"Yeah," he looks behind him at the tree, "Come on, there's still one more thing to do."

Everyone's inside. A servant brings out a scroll and sets it on a table. It says  
赤月光木家

"Akagekkōki-ke" – clan. He opens it. It's the family tree.  
Each name listed says 赤月光木, Akagekkōki, then the name. Farthest to the right 三日月- Mikazuki, which connects to the far left to 踊 (Odori), next to that kanji written in small ウドュイ, indicating it's supposed to be read Udyui. In between their names a line connects to a horizontal one. The farthest right 秋夜- Akiyo; the middle 弘志- Hiroshi; the farthest left 水蓮(Mizu & Ren), next to those kanji written in small ミジリン- Mijirin.

Grandpa, "Now that you've been officially initiated, you can now have your name, along with the clan's name, put down on this baby."

The calligrapher-servant, "What the mother's name?"

Taishō tells him. A line is drawn between his name and her name.

"And the child's full name?"

"Akagekkōki. Then in katakana write 'Utari' and finally Sesshōmaru which is spelled with 'Kill' 'Life' and then the boys' 'maru'."

Grandma, "You're now the first-born of the third generation."-_on paper…_

Grandpa then sharply asks his elder son, "Hey Akiyo, why the hell don't you have any kids?"

"….."

Grandpa whacks him on the head with his staff, "No answer, huh?"

Taishō smiles and holds back a snicker- *_WHAK!_* he got hit too.

"And why the hell did you have this one so freakin' late in life? Couldn't you have had him sooner? Before I was half-dead?"

Grandma joins in, "You know, you could've also had more pups after him."

"Yeah, that's right! Wh-where you going? Get your not-having-pups-asses back here!"

"Run Aki-nii! Run Roshi-nii!"

"Don't encourage them!"

Sesshōmaru smiles on as he watches- _This… all of this…. it's…. everyone…_

Grandpa chases his sons around whacking them with his cane for not reproducing enough before he got so old.

"Aaah! Quit it!"

"Otō-sama!"

"I don't give a rat's ass if you're the Great Dog General, head of the clan, or grown! You're still my children. I'll put you over my gotdamn knee whenever the hell I feel like it!"

"Aaa-aahh!"

…_.don't end… last awhile longer… please… don't let __**this**__ all end….  
….I don't want to see anyone gone…. not ever._

* * *

つ づ く_...  
_


	13. 13th Chapter

(Short chapter, so I used some space to write a longer Author's Note. Sorry for the length)

* * *

• From Ch. 11- Yume was electrically _shocking_ Sesshōmaru

• Note on Taishō's name from last chapter- I made it up. Hiroshi isn't Inu no Taishō's (and Taishō is just his title "General") real name. Touga, commonly believed to be his name, is in fact a temporary name that the director/creator-people of the 3rd Inuyasha movie called him. (I guess it was to make things easier during storyboards and stuff)  
Touga means "Fighting Fang." Touga-ō means "Great Fighting Fang" but dear Rumiko Takahashi-sensei never approved of those names, so it **is not** his name.

I carefully picked out the meaning. The 1st kanji means like: vast, extensive, immense, magnificent, grand. That kanji itself can be read as 'hiroshi' but can also be read as 'hiro' and the latter is what I chose. The 2nd kanji I picked for 'shi' means like: ambition, aspiration, a wish, a desire, hope, resolution, will, an object, an aim, a purpose, aspire, kindness, goodwill, a small gift. In all, I picked "Immense Goodwill" 弘志

• The family name I invented/picked 赤月光木 breaks down to Aka=Red, Gekkō= MoonLight, Ki= Tree. I got the idea for the name from the pattern that Sesshōmaru wears on his kimono; it will be explained a bit more later on.  
• Grandpa's name was broken down in Ch.6, 三日月- Mikazuki = "Crescent"  
• Grandma's name, 踊 (Odori) = "Dance" but Okinawan word for that is ウドュイ - Udyui  
• Uncle Akiyo's name, 秋夜 = "Autumn Night"  
• Auntie's name 水蓮, 1st kanji= "Water" which is "Mizu" in Japanese but "Miji" in Okinawan. 2nd kanji = "Lotus" which is "Ren" but pronounced "Rin" in Okinawan, so ミジリン, Mijirin.

• Ryukyuans= An ethnic groups of the Japanese Islands who may or may not be considered ethnically Yamato people (Japanese ethnic group). The indigenous peoples of the Ryukyu Islands between the islands of Kyūshū and Taiwan. The generally recognized subgroups of Ryukyuans are: Amamians, **Okinawans**, Kunigamians, Miyakoans, Yaeyamans, and Yonagunians. Islands are considered the "Galapagos of the East"  
• Another ethnic group of Japan are the aboriginal Ainu/Ezo who live on Northern Honshu, Hokkaido and Sakhalin Islands.

• PS I'd like to say how I came up with Grandpa's and Grandma's appearance. I'm a science person, I'd like things to make a certain amount of sense even (although I let some things slide for anime) Okay, I came up with their appearances because I was trying to picture the appearance of, if, Sesshō maru and Kagura had kids. Yup.  
I was thinking of the kids' looks and then something occurred to me, "How can one have purple eyes at all? Kagura has red eyes and Sesshō maru has yellow eyes, I need blue for purple eyes" and the same went for some of the markings I was giving them. Where would they have inherited those from? I knew Taisho's looks, so then I remembered Biology and thought, "Ah-hah! Sesshō maru's grandparents! That's how!" and from there they were developed and then were Uncle and Auntie. Sesshō maru's family was created because of a need for things to make sense and fangirl-ism.

* * *

Sesshōmaru Ante Iam **Part 1: Early Years**- Chapter 13

* * *

~~A year later~~

Taishō and Sesshōmaru still live at their little home. Sesshōmaru has lived for a little over a year without a mother, and Taishō hasn't seen her as of late either. Sesshōmaru continues to play with and teach Yume.

Taishō and Sesshōmaru are sitting outside. It's still dark. Taishō sits while Sesshōmaru stands in front of him – they're watching the sun rise.

"Chichi-ue, where do you think the sun goes to at night?"

"Some say that the sun passes through hell, fighting all night, and then rises again in the morning triumphant. Others say that every day at sunset it dies, and is then reborn again at sunrise, kind of like a phoenix."

"Hmm… I like the first one better."

"Sesshōmaru, eh, would you like to have… a… mother?"

"Huh?"

"Uh, I mean, it's not supposed to – it shouldn't be like this."

"What do you mean by that?"

"A child's… supposed to be raised by their father **and** mother. I mean, I doubt things will work out between me and your mother, but it's been over a year now… and… um… Sesshōmaru… maybe I should find-"

"That's enough Chichi-ue," Sesshōmaru calmly states still looking at the horizon.

"Uh?"

"Don't say that. Don't say that you're going to force yourself to 'love' again just so that I can have some replacement mother, but don't think I'm implying that _she_ is irreplaceable either. *Scoffs* I honestly don't feel any attachment toward that women anymore, neither hate nor love. Chichi-ue, I would rather not have you lie to yourself! You, to play some charade for my sake, so that I can be happy?" he asks sarcastically,  
"I thought I already said it…" Sesshōmaru turns around, "My reason to live is to make you happy!" he lowers his head, "Heh, I'm not a naïve fool. I'll see through the act. I don't want you to be with a woman who you're not truly happy with!"

"But, this isn't what supposed-"

"That's nonsense Father! It's not true… A 'happy' family's 'supposed' to a mother and father, but that's not the case sometimes. Ryukyuans and Ezos aren't 'supposed' to be nobility, yet here we are. The innocent are 'supposed' to be rewarded, saved, and evil's 'supposed' to be punished, but that's not how things really work…" he raises his head,  
"Who the hell says that I can't be happy with just _you_!"

Taishō's eyes widen.

The sun rises, and Taishō sees a gentler look on Sesshōmaru's face: lowered eyelids, a slight smile. Sesshōmaru walks over to his father and puts his hand on his cheek, "Chichi-ue, if some day you actually **do** fall in love with another woman again, it'll be fine, but just don't lie or force yourself to, okay? I'm happy, Chichi-ue. Really, I am. I'm happy! As long as there's a smile on your face, that's all I need. Even if I do grow up without a mother, I will be fine. I will, really, so please, don't worry over such things. Besides Chichi-ue, you're all I really need…"

"…Sesshō-" Taishō hugs him tight and Sesshōmaru rests his head on his father's shoulder.

"It'll be okay, Chichi-ue. **It is** okay," he buries himself into his father, and closes his eyes. What he says next is both muffled and very quiet, "I love you more than anything in this whole world."

Taishō grabs Sesshōmaru's shoulders, pushes him back and stares, "Wh, wh, what did you just say?"

"Say what, Father?" Sesshōmaru hugs him again.

Taishō's expression relaxes. The boy's not going to repeat himself apparently.

"I love you too."

"Mm-huh."

It's daylight now.

* * *

つ づ く...

_Ch. 14- A Cracking, The Silence_


	14. A Cracking, The Silence

• Ohayo Gozaimasu= "Good morning", or just "Ohayo." Ohayossu= Shortened version of previous. Owasu= Shortened version of previous. ****O(s)su**= Shortened version of previous. Often used by young men as a greeting to each other and in manly pursuits (sports, etc) as multipurpose sound of acknowledgment (e.g., "Hello" "OK" "Got it" "Hooray" "Yes" "Understand"). There are a number of variations, like "Ussu!" and "Wiisu!"

• Ume= a kind of Japanese apricot. Commonly mistranslated as "Plum"

* * *

Sesshōmaru Ante Iam **Part 1: Early Years**- Chapter 14~A Cracking, The Silence

* * *

~~Weeks later~~

Taishō is in his study doing paperwork, when Sesshōmaru shows up and wraps his arms around his father's shoulders from behind.

"Do you want something?"

Sesshōmaru snuggles into his back, "No."

"Come on, tell me," he turns his head back.

"Hmph, well Chich-i^~ -i- *gasp!*" Sesshōmaru covers his mouth.

Taishō just stares at him, "Speak."

Sesshōmaru shakes his head 'no'

"Sesshōmaru, puppy, speak."

No.

"Come on. I just want you to say a few things again."

No.

"Sesshōmaru," he says in a firmer voice.

Sesshōmaru nods, "Chichi-ue… oh! I thi^~ -i- -~-nk-" he covers his mouth.

"Puppy… y-your voice… it, it's cracking."

Sesshōmaru blushes and looks down.

Taishō puts his hand on his son's shoulders, "Oh, no, Sesshōmaru, don't be embarrassed. Remember? We talked about this before: your body is changing and your voice is going to crack as a result."

But Sesshōmaru remains the same.

"Sesshōmaru, look, look at me. Sesshōmaru. Sesshōmaru. Sesshōmaru look at me," he puts his finger under Sesshōmaru's chin and Sesshōmaru puts his hands down, "You're going to be fine."

Sesshōmaru doesn't say anything.

"What? Are you not going to talk until your voice fully breaks?"

Sesshōmaru nods.

"You're joking."

He shakes his head.

"Sesshōmaru, you're already quiet enough as it is. So what now you're going to go completely mute?"

He nods.

"You're really going to do this? Say nothing  - _**at all**_?"

He nods.

Taishō sighs.

It's quiet. They stare at each other, then Sesshōmaru smiles a bit, and hugs his father. Taishō pats his back- _Oh well…_

~~Days later~~

Sesshōmaru is walking over to the Bo tree where Yume waits. She has white hakama and a blue, short-sleeved qipao; her hair is tied and reaches mid-back while her bangs reach mid-cheek.

"Oh! Sess-chan! Hi!" she waves at him as she runs over. She stops and looks at him, "Look at you! All in armor and stuff!"

Sesshōmaru stays quiet and lifts his right forearm. Yume does the same. They clap hands but not necessarily by the palms, instead they clap with the area of their fingers; then they use their index and middle fingers to 'shake hands'; and then they snap as they sweep their hands down to their waists. So it's: clap-shake-snap followed by "Ossu" which Sesshōmaru doesn't say.

Yume stares at him for awhile, and a little more, and some more, "Um… Sessy, aren't you at least going to say 'hi'?"

He shakes his head.

"Aren't you talking?"

No.

"Why not?"

Puts hands to throat.

"Throat problems?"

He thinks, yeah let's go with that, and nods.

"How long are you gonna be quiet like that?"

Shrugs.

"Um… 'kay…. Sooo, what ya' wanna do today?"

Thinks, the he points his fingers down and flexes the index and middle ones.

"Race? Okay," she grabs his arm and pulls him to their 'running spot.'

~~Two Weeks Later~~

Taishō sips tea with Tōtōsai at his house.

"So you're telling me that he hasn't said one word – nothing, in over a fortnight?"

"Yes. Not one word."

Taishō and Tōtōsai are sitting across from each other and Sesshōmaru sits adjacent to them. Sesshōmaru grabs the tea pot and extends his arms out, offering.

Taishō, "No, thanks. I'm fine. Tōtōsai, would you like some more?"

"Yes," he stretches his arm toward Sesshōmaru who pours tea into his cup. He puts the teapot down, sips his own cup, then pushes the teapot toward his father, and holds his own cup with one hand under it. Taishō pours him some, puts the teapot down, and then puts his hand on Sesshōmaru head, scruffing up his hair to which the boy blushes and smiles.

"Bloomed early, eh? He's going to look little like that for quite a long time."

Taishō pauses. That's right. Since he's started puberty, he's going to begin to age much slower now, and since he did so so early, that means he'll looks like the age he is now for…. years – decades. That means, that means…. that means-!  
Taishō quickly pulls Sesshōmaru over into a tight hug where he presses his cheek to his, "Oooooaaaahhh! You're going to stay little, and… _adorable_! like this for so much longer than you would've had you bloomed at the average age! That's **absolutely wonderful**! I can't believe I forgot about that!"

Sesshōmaru's turning so pink right now.

"This is a blessing! You get to be my sweet, _little, __adorable __**puppy **_for awhile longer!" *SmOOch!*

"….."

"So how is this mute thing going?"

"Well… I guess it's alright. He never was much of a talker, but still…"

"Hmph, well at least his haughty, rude-brat mouth is sealed."

Sesshōmaru glares at Tōtōsai who stares back at him, "What? No insults from that spiked tongue of yours?"

"Tōtōsai!"

Sesshōmaru's glare intensifies and his eyebrows begin to twitch.

"Well…?"

He grits his teeth, then grabs the pot, takes off the lid and- *Splsh!*

"Ah!"

"Sesshōmaru!"

He had thrown all the hot tea of the tea pot into Tōtōsai's face. With a scalded face, Tōtōsai leans closer to Sesshōmaru, "Why you spiteful-!"

"Tōtōsai! Don't!"

Sesshōmaru upper lip quivers and he grabs Tōtōsai's mustache and pulls!

"Ah-ah! Let go you rotten brat!"

"Stop it!"

Taishō pries them apart. He looks at Sesshōmaru and then at Tōtōsai- *Pow!* *Pow!*

Both of their heads hang low as big steaming bumps form on their heads. Sesshōmaru puts both on the sides of his head and Tōtōsai rubs his own bump.

Taishō points at Sesshōmaru sternly, "No! Bad Puppy! Do not treat guest that way!" He points at Tōtōsai, "No! Bad! Do not start fights!"

They both nod.

* * *

Sesshōmaru is in the forest. It's quite late. He's picking berries, mushrooms, and other herbs. The bushes rustle and he looks in that direction. A tall figure emerges from the bushes. It's Akiyo. Sesshōmaru smiles and goes over to him.

"Ah, hi there, Sesshōmaru. How have you been?"

Sesshōmaru nods.

"Well?"

Nod.

"O...kay…why aren't you saying anything?"

Shakes his head.

"No? No what?"

The bushes rustles again. Taishō emerges and Sesshōmaru runs over to him presenting him with his findings (yes, much like Rin presents flowers to Sesshōmaru in the future).

"Good boy," he puts the plants in a basket he's carrying.

"Hey, Hiroshi, is there something wrong with Sesshōmaru? He's not talking."

"Oh, his voice is cracking. Sesshōmaru's too embarrassed to talk so he's gone mute until his voice breaks completely."

"His voice is cracking?"

"I told you last year that he bloomed early, remember?"

"But… the boy was 10 then!"

"11. He was a month shy of being 11."

"Yeah, so? It's not normal. He's supposed to be going through puberty like next year."

Taishō glares at him, "Are you trying to say something?"

"I know about the boy's lack of taste."

"What about it?"

Silence.

"Come on, Akiyo, just say it."

"Well, you're living with just him now, so you're the one cooking, right? Heh, I bet you don't even pay attention to what you put in there."

"I've had enough of this," he grabs hold of Sesshōmaru's wrist and walks away.

Akiyo quickly follows, "You could probably spill the whole salt container in what you're cooking and he won't even notice."

"So?"

"That's **why**."

Taishō stops, "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Sesshōmaru bumps into his father's leg.

"You must cook blind! As long as it's sweet or meat you can toss in whatever you want! And he can eat whatever too! What do you feed the pup!"

"I, I – it's not because of what I fed him!" he walks away again.

Akiyo follows and Sesshōmaru gets pulled along. His eyes have widened.

"He probably bloomed early because of heaven-knows-what you put in his food."

"It is not!"

"How much crap are you feeding him?"

Taishō gasps, "I do not feed him crap!"

"Right…!"

"I do **not**!"

"We're talking about a kid who can't tell the difference between a salty orange, a spicy orange, and a sour orange – he thinks they're all sweet! Now you can't honestly tell me that you cook carefully for him?"

"Just shut up! It's none of you business!"

"The hell it's not! I'm concerned about the dietary health of my nephew because his father feeds him so much crap that he bloomed prematurely!"

"For the last time – I do NOT FEED HIM CRAP!"

The whole time Sesshōmaru was silently pulled along with his widened eyes.

"It is! It's because of all the crap you've fed him!"

"IT. IS. NOT!"

* * *

Taishō is cutting up some meat in the kitchen. A mellow voice, "Father."

Taishō flinches and turns around swinging the butcher knife at the direction of the voice, then stops suddenly.

Sesshōmaru is leaning back with the knife too close to his face, "Father!"

"Ggh?" He gasps and jumps back, a hand gripping the counter, "Sess, Sesshōmaru?"

Sesshōmaru frowns, "O-oh," blushes and covers his mouth.

Taishō returns the knife to its place and kneels putting his hands on Sesshōmaru shoulders, "I'm sorry. It's just… I didn't recognize your voice. I thought it was someone else; I thought it was an intruder. I'm so sorry that I scared you like that."

Sesshōmaru puts his hand down, "Y-you don't like it… do you?"

He sounds like the Sesshōmaru we know now (Ken Narita or David Kaye) but it's not as stern, it's softer.

"Oh no, no, no! It's not that, it's just that… I'm not used to _this_ voice, and it **has** been awhile since you've last spoken. It's okay. Don't be embarrassed," he pats his shoulders, "Now, come on, keep talking. I'm going to have to get used to this new voice of yours."

Sesshōmaru blushes, "Chi… chi-ue."

"That's good! Now say it again."

He smiles slightly, "Chichi-ue… how… do you do?" he blushes a bit more.

Taishō smiles.

"So… do, do you like it?"

"Yes, of course I do. Now say 'I love you, Daddy.'"

Sesshōmaru blushes more.

"What? You said it a lot when you were little. I want to hear it with you mature voice."

Sesshōmaru's face is completely red. He buries his face into the crook of his father's neck.

"It's okay," he strokes his hair, "I'll wait."

Taishō feels his puppy's face get hotter.

~~Days later~~

Sesshōmaru is with Yume but this time they're under an Akagekkōki.

"Yume."

She gasps, "Sess-chan? Is, is that you?" She reaches out her hand.

*Clap-Shake-Snap* "Ossu."  
It is.

"You're, you're talking again!"

"Yes, I'm aware of that."

Her eyes widen.

"What?"

"Uh, it's just… your voice."

"Nnnn."

~~A bit later~~

It's currently autumn so the tree is in fall leaves colors. The leaves are red, but a really bright red. Yume asks Sesshōmaru about the origin of the tree's name. Sesshōmaru, with full clan pride and honor, for his family's namesake, explains, "The 'red' in Red Moonlight Tree refers to the fact that in spring, red flowers bloom, twice actually. The first set blooms at the same time as Umes, so they're the first ones in spring. The flowers are three red forked petals with three triangular pale-red sepals. The latter set bloom mid-to late-spring and they're bigger, like twice as big, and are deeper in color.  
"There exists Akagekkōkis that bloom purple flowers. They're fewer than the ones that have red flowers, and those trees are referred to as Shigekkōkis – Purple Moonlight Trees. Only in late summer and winter is the tree **not** red.  
"As you can see, Yume, the tree's leaves turn bright red in the fall; this is actually the origin of the 'moonlight' part of the name. You see, at night the fall leaves actually reflect the light of the moon. The fuller the moon becomes the more light is reflected. So on a full moon, if you were to come across the tree at night, to your eyes it would seem as though the tree had leaves _made_ of glowing white light. An eerie but very beautiful sight. Do you have any questions Yume?"

She's just staring at him.

"Um… Yume?"

"Huh?"

"Did you pay attention to what I just said?"

"Er...… kind of."

"Kind of? Ugh! So why did you ask me if you weren't even going to listen?"

"Oh, I just wanted to hear you talk."

"What! Why you-!" He chases her around.

"Graaah!"

"Aieeee!"

* * *

_End of Part 1: Early Years  
_

Look for Part 2! Out now! _Behold!_

Sesshomaru Kohen

See you later! :D

*Kohen means Part 2 in Japanese (or something similar) Technically it's Sesshōmaru Ante Iam **Part 2: Passing Days**  
In the meantime, if you'd like, read some of my one-shot humors.


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